Honour Roll
Cameron Linscott
Once wasn’t enough. Cameron Linscott surprised many last year by capturing the senior boys cross-country ofsaa (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) gold medal as a Grade 11 student from Kingston Collegiate & Vocational Institute ( kcvi). But an even bigger surprise was him repeating as champion this year, despite recovering from a stress fracture in his hip that sidelined him during the 2015 track season. Linscott, while building up to 100k weekly totals leading up to the cross-country championships last November, was limited to pool running and elliptical training for a couple of months. His first steps back to running included a modest run/walk program of one minute each for a total of 12 minutes. With patience and persistence he captured his second ofsaa championship on a challenging course at Highlands Nordic Resort in Duntroon.
Comparing 2014’s win to 2015, he found the experiences quite different. “In 2014, I was an underdog,” he admits, particularly considering Grade 11 runners don’t often contend for the title. His former training partner and teammate, Ben Workman (2014 ofsaa cross country bronze medallist and currently running for the University of Guelph) had a plan to sit right behind the leaders and let them push the pace. Cameron was sitting in fourth around 2k and wanted to medal, so he decided to challenge the leaders and eventually left them behind.
In 2015, Linscott was just hoping to stay near the leaders and see if the confidence and experience earned in his 2014 win could pull him through. Right from the start he was 50m behind the leaders, sitting around 100th place, so he decided to start pushing the pace only 1k in, using the terrain to his advantage. “Although I’m not necessarily a fast runner I have good endurance and had a good strategy,” he said. “I attacked the hills and continued to push beyond the crest to lose those recovering from the climb.” Cameron’s club coach, Steve Boyd, who also coaches at Queen’s University, suggested before the race to run straight through the mud as the whole course was a mess. Linscott embraced this tactic, speeding his way down hills and through areas that caused problems for others. “I love the mud,” he said with a grin. Linscott also credits his success to an effective training formula recovering from his injury along with support from his parents, who he adds, “keep me humble.”
Balancing club and high school expectations for any athlete is not an easy task. While Linscott does his workouts twice a week with his club, he runs his base mileage regularly with his high school team. “Our high school program is a great atmosphere where everyone supports each other, regardless of what level you’re at and we have a lot of fun,” he said. With kcvi recently averaging about 65 athletes on their team each year they have developed a formula for success and inclusion. Coaches Alex Wordley, Marc Carrier and Brent Workman describe their program as having runners of many different levels who support each other. “Having exceptional runners like Cameron who are chatty with everyone on the team and cheer on every last runner to the finish line makes everyone feel like a winner,” said Wordley. When asked what makes Cameron so successful, Wordley’s believes it’s simple: “He just loves to run, it’s fun for him.”
Linscott’s future plans are currently open while he explores his options. While he wants to run in university, the quality of his education comes first and he views running as something he primarily enjoys for the sake of it. “I want to take my running as far as I can get it,” he said. “But right now what I value most of all is how much fun I have racing.”
"I LOVE THE MUD."