Lesa Mayes-Stringer facts for kids
Lesa Mayes-Stringer was born on May 13, 1968, in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. She is a former bobsled athlete who proudly represented Canada from 1999 to 2007.
Athletic Journey
Lesa Mayes-Stringer was a talented athlete from a young age. In track and field, she won a silver medal in the Heptathlon (a multi-sport event) as a junior athlete. She also earned a silver medal in the Heptathlon at the senior level in Canada.
During her time at York University, Lesa won several gold medals in track and field. These included the 60-meter hurdles and relay races (4x400m and 4x100m). She also earned a bronze medal in shot put. Later, at Simon Fraser University, she continued to excel, winning gold in shot put and another relay race.
Lesa then switched to bobsleigh, where she became a pilot. She was a Canadian Champion in Women's 2-man Bobsleigh in both 2003 and 2005. A remarkable achievement was becoming the first Black woman to win a gold medal as a bobsleigh pilot for Canada. She was also the first Black woman from North America to compete as a pilot on the World Cup Circuit, which is a series of international bobsleigh races.
While competing, Lesa also gave back to her community. She volunteered with the YES Program (Youth Education for Sport), speaking to many children across Canada. From 2000 to 2007, she represented 350 Canadian high-performance athletes on the executive board for the Canadian Sport Institute in Calgary, Alberta. She worked hard to support athletes' rights and even met with the Minister of Health to help ensure all national team athletes received mandatory health coverage.
In 2007, Lesa and her family moved to France. There, she was asked to help rebuild the National Bobsleigh program for Team France. She worked with the head coach of the national team of Monaco to achieve this goal.
Education
Lesa Mayes-Stringer earned a degree in history from York University. She attended the university on an academic scholarship, which means she received financial help because of her excellent grades. She also completed a teaching program at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, where she received her teaching certification.
Teaching and Community Work
Lesa worked as a high school teacher in Calgary, Alberta. She helped start a special program for high school social studies called the PLP program for the Calgary Board of Education. This program used different teaching methods to help meet the unique learning needs of each student. It started with about 24 students and grew to include thousands.
Later, Lesa Mayes-Stringer started an English training school in France called Lovin'English.
Today, Lesa lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She works with her husband in full-time Christian ministry as the Women's Ministry Leader for the Capital City Church of Christ. She is also involved in helping to bring about positive changes in bobsleigh for Canada.
Family and Heritage
Lesa Mayes-Stringer has a fascinating family history. She is a direct descendant of a group of people who left Oklahoma, USA, in 1910. They were looking for a better life and traveled north to Saskatchewan, Canada. They had read flyers promising 160 acres of free land to anyone willing to move there. This group of pioneers became known as the "Shiloh People." They were named after the "Shiloh Baptist Church," a small log cabin church they built after they arrived.
Lesa married Christopher Stringer in Richmond, British Columbia, in 1994. They have three adult children named Meigan, Madison, and Adam. Lesa is also the younger sister of former professional football player Rueben Mayes.
Her daughter, Madison, continues the family's athletic tradition. Madison competes with the French National Women's Bobsleigh Team. In 2021, Madison won the Under 23 Junior World Championships with her pilot, Margot Boch.
