Esther Kong eager to add boxing and Champions for Charity to her list of extraordinary exploits
KITCHENER —
The wind pummelled Esther Kong’s face with a flurry of gusty jabs.
Her goggles wobbled violently. Beneath them, her glasses almost tumbled 11,000 feet to the Ottawa River below.
This skydiving adventure with her dear friend Kathy, maybe 15 years ago, was almost a blurry one. She fixed her glasses and her fall slowed as she opened her parachute.
Kong’s fear of heights disappeared.
She gazed at the serene world beneath her feet on the Ontario-Quebec border.
There were no air-raid sirens. There were no bombs going off in the distance.
This was not her childhood home hear the demilitarized zone in South Korea, before her family emigrated to Canada.
This was the opposite.
“It’s so peaceful,” thought Kong, a recently-retired human resources and talent acquisition professional — and one of Mandy Bujold’s Champions for Charity jumping into the boxing ring for the first time on April 12th to raise funds for McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation.
“I don’t know why people are so afraid of this.”
Kathy, who was battling breast cancer, soared alongside her.
Kathy jumped from the plane first. Kong followed.
After all, this was Kathy’s bucket list adventure.
She hadn’t even told her husband Dave about it — at least not yet. But Kong was on her wing on this beautiful, clear day — years before Kathy’s cancer returned to take her.
“She wanted to go skydiving so I went with her,” a teary Kong recalled. “I wanted to show up and be there for her and experience it with her before she passed.”
A memorable adventure with a wonderful friend.
Champions for Charity will be another extraordinary exploit for Kong.
Tremendous teammates. Physical challenges — even for a heptathlete who adores running the 800 metres and walking her 13-year-old greyhound huskies Sika and Rogue around Kitchener.
A worthy cause in McMaster Children’s Hospital, too.
“Whatever challenges I’ve had in my life, they’re nothing compared to what these kids go through,” said Kong, who knew no English when her family first landed in Scarborough. “It’s important we look outside ourselves and do things that really help out other people.”
That’s why, to the surprise of coach Syd Vanderpool, she showed up for Champions for Charity tryouts. Vanderpool once subtly dangled boxing’s battered carrot in front of her.
Kong never forgot. She’s like that with challenges.
“I’ve done a lot of what people would describe as crazy things in my life,” Kong explained. “If someone tells me I can’t do something, I’m like, ‘Yeah, hold my beer. Watch this.’ ”
So she has gone skydiving. She is a Tough Mudder event regular, running 16 km past military-style obstacles and barrelling through live-wire minefields packing 10,000 volts of electric shock.
Remember that World’s Toughest Mudder event one frigid November in New Jersey? Kong ran and swam that cold course — the water froze at night — seven times. The last three laps with completely numb feet. It was six months before she fully felt her toes.
Now, the boxing ring beckons as she leaves the working world behind before age 50.
Why retire now?
“I don’t want to wait until I’m 65 or 70 to have my adventures. I want to get my adventures done while I’m still relatively heathy and able-bodied.”
Kong wants to drive across Canada. The one-time Kingston resident wants to bushwhack her way through the country like a modern-day voyageur.
“I’ve had quite a few adventures,” she said. “Boxing is going to be one of them. There will be more to come.”
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