Need to know

Alex Cyr

Who – A long distance runner from Abram-Village who is part of Team P.E.I. at the Canada Games in Winnipeg.

The latest – He will run the 5,000 metre tonight.

Personal best time – 14:51.

Training trail – Cyr often used the Confederation Trail near his home.

Education – Cyr graduated from École Évangeline in 2013, earned his human kinetics degree from St. F.X. this year and will be attending the University of Windsor in Ontario to do a two-year masters in sports psychology program. He was proudly wearing his X ring on Wednesday, “And I’m not taking it off,’’ he laughed.

Help along the way – Cyr said he was fortunate to have good coaches like Colin MacAdam and Andy Walker. He looked up to Summerside native Connor McGuire. They were teammates on Team P.E.I. at the 2013 Canada Games in Sherbrooke, Que. “Instantly, when he got there you could tell he knew what he was doing. He had been here before, but that didn’t prevent him from being a source of knowledge and helping out the guys who had not.”

Message to young runners – Cyr said you have to like what you’re doing because it can take years of training and competing to get good at it. He said don’t be greedy, but “always be hungry,’’ as you look to improve and never be complacent as someone else is out there working to beat you.

Cyr said: “The most important part of becoming a distance runner is you need to like it. You need to have kind of that weird love for it. Everyone kind of has their hobby and to everyone else it might seem weird. To me, I realized I enjoyed doing it. I enjoyed getting faster. I mean it’s not always fun, sometimes you’re on your own running,’’ he said, but “I like the feeling of accomplishment, the feeling of getting better.”

Familiar face – Cyr will be running with his former roommate at St. F.X., Angus Rawling, in tonight’s race.