AUS championship season for X-Men

Bernie Chisholm has coached cross-country for thirty years, and witnessed the impressive growth of the sport in that time – but his philosophy remains simple:  "There is no bad weather," he notes. His team trains, no matter what.

If you've seen odd markings on the road at Mount Cameron, it's because Coach Chisholm has indicated distances on the pavement for his athletes to run hilly loops. If you've looked out of your window and seen runners battling snowdrifts on the track, you'll go some distance towards understanding the success of the team, now five-time consecutive AUS champions.

"The guys push each other," he says, mildly, before adding that "mediocrity will not make you successful."

On recruiting trips, he is similarly candid: "That was a good run," he'll tell a prospective StFX athlete. "It's important to recognize their efforts."

Coach Chisholm's outlook has been adopted by his three-year captain, Scott Donald. "Guys on the team don't see barriers," he says. "They just get on with it." He points to the athletes' strong relationship with their coach, who insists that "you must coach the individual."

Mid-season – together – the athletes and Coach Chisholm reevaluated their training plan to produce an optimal regime for each athlete. "He trusts us to know ourselves," Donald claims. "I think it helps boost our confidence."

They trained through the AUS Championships, setting their sights on the bigger goal: CIS. They placed 7th, in a deep, competitive field. When asked about his athletes' finest accomplishments, though, Coach Chisholm points to their other lives. Seven or eight athletes in the past ten years have gone to medical school, and many former athletes are active recruiters for the StFX program.

"I encourage a lot of volunteer work," Coach Chisholm notes. "Just a 90% average isn't going to cut it." The athletes are here, he says, to get a solid education and compete against the best athletes in a competitive conference. StFX is a "gem," he notes, "where the cream rises to the top."

Courtesy The Extraordinary - StFX Newsletter from the Office of the President - http://www.stfx.ca/news/view/20061/