Ben Johnson remembers when he was a teenager in the GTA trying to make ends meet. He recalls his track coach selling his own car to help provide money for the young sprinter to be able to get to the track and field centre to train.
“I didn’t have much, he sold his car, it was an Aston Martin, so he can have some financial gain to help us and he was the only white guy taking care of us black kids from all over the Caribbean so what my coach did for me, the same thing I am doing for Nick,” said Johnson.
The former Canadian Olympian was in town on the weekend running training and motivational sessions with North Bay area teams and individuals as a means to help raise money for Nick Laporte, an aspiring North Bay sprinter with a dream to make Canada’s Track and Field Sprint team in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Johnson met with Laporte through a referral from hockey commentator Ron MacLean back in September, and Johnson says it took him only 10 minutes to realize there was something special about Laporte.
“I saw him with good structure and a good physique, very lean, very tall and he said he wanted to run track and field because of the story of his friend who passed away from cancer,” said Johnson.
See related story: Ben Johnson to offer clinics in North Bay as a way to support a local athlete
In 2016, the former local junior hockey star with the North Bay Skyhawks had just finished a season playing professional hockey in the Czech Republic.
Laporte’s friend Mariano Ezeta, who was an up and coming track star at the University of Calgary, asked Nick to start training with him to prepare for another season of pro hockey.
See related story: A motivated local athlete pursuing an Olympic Dream
But in the spring of 2017, his friend, who was battling Leukemia, passed away.
Laporte says his friend’s inspiration is the driving force behind this Olympic dream while transitioning from hockey player to sprinter.
“It is still pretty surreal, I am grateful every day for the opportunity and the more we start working together, the more I start to believe in myself which is huge because back in September I never knew if this would work out for me so to have him behind me and confident that I am going to reach my goal at the next Olympics, that’s huge for me and I look forward to each day and improving,” said Laporte about his connection with Johnson.
Laporte hopes to continue to train with Johnson and expects to participate in his first sanctioned sprint race in May.
