Barbara Howard (Black Strathcona)

Lord Strathcona Elementary School

Who would ever guess that a gym teacher at Strathcona School was once one of the fastest women in the world? Her name is Barbara Howard, and even as a young age she was known for speed.

She was always picked first for relay teams and won a pile of red ribbons in sprints. But in 1938, when Barbara was in Grade 11, she reached a whole new level, when she ran some qualifying races for the British Empire Games. Her time over 100 yards beat the Games’ record by one-tenth of a second. That race put her on the Canadian team for the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney, Australia. Now it’s one thing to beat records, it’s another to convince your mother – at the age of 17 – to allow you to travel across the world.