UP, UP AND AWAY
Eric Campbell hopes to take ‘next step’ after winning two silvers at provincials
Cameron Burgess of Governor Simcoe Secondary School competes in the senior men’s pole vault during the SOSSA track meet Thursday. Students from across Niagara and Hamilton competed at the Niagara Olympic Club in St. Catharines.
For the record, they’re the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs, not the Greyhounds.
While Bulldogs may be among the fattest of canines, they are far, far back from the front of the pack when it comes to being the fastest.
There are exceptions, of course.
In 2018, Eric Campbell raced to silver medals in both the midget boys 800 and 1,500 at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championships in his first year at Churchill.
Now that he’s a junior at the St. Catharines high school, he’s hoping to improve on those second-place finishes at provincials this year.
Campbell, who trains out of Niagara Olympic Club as well as Runners Edge, is confident he can do just that.
“Looking at my training, it’s been very consistent. I’ve been improving my times, my splits,” the 16-year-old St. Catharines native said. “My coaches have even told me that I’ve been doing well.
“That’s kind of inspiring, motivating.”
His confidence is further buoyed by how he fared in his first trip to OFSAA.
“Looking at last year, I was like a tenth of a second from getting first place,” Campbell said. “Looking at my training now, I’m feeling really confident of going to OFSAA and taking that next step and, hopefully, clinching that first-place spot.”
When Campbell talks about training for an upcoming meet, he doesn’t mean jogging around a track to limber up the legs and loosen the muscles.
Far from it.
He trains an average of an hour and a half daily about six times a week.
“Sometimes, it’s longer depending on what we are doing,” Campbell said. “Sometimes, we’ll do long runs; sometimes, we’ll have a workout.”
An “easy day” is 30 minutes of “just flushing the legs out.”
Weight training is part of his regimen. Workouts at the gym are geared toward building upper-body strength.
“Just to give a nice balance between both the legs and the upper body. I think it has helped me a bit with running with keeping my form in good shape,” Campbell said of strength training.
“And it kept my posture up. I think it’s helped me a lot.”
The fleet-footed greyhound, er, Bulldog was a quick study when it came to picking up the finer points of being part of a relay team. He joined a relay team at the last minute at the national championships last summer in Manitoba.
“The team just needed a couple of runners to do a 4x4 relay,” he said. “I just volunteered to do it, and we ended up getting second place.”
Racing in the 800 prepared him to compete in the relay.
“It’s mostly speed, and I think that’s my strong point.”
Getting used to running all out with a baton in his hand required little, if any, adjustment.
“It wasn’t really a big change because I’m just holding onto a stick.”
Campbell feels qualifying at Niagara Olympic Park in St. Catharines, where the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (SOSSA) championships were held this week and where South Regionals will take place next Thursday and Friday, gives him a home-course advantage.
“It’s really fortunate that we don’t have to drive up to Brampton for a race because that’s just exhausting to drive an hour just to compete in a couple of faces then go back.”
Upwards of 850 athletes from 53 schools in zones 1, 2, 3 and 4 competed in 122 events at the SOSSA qualifier.
Thursday morning’s schedule at SOSSA was delayed by a cloudburst that knocked out power to timing equipment at the finish line.
Top five from the qualifier advance to the regionals, which is the second last step to reaching the Ontario championships.
Provincials this year will be held June 6 to 8 at Alumni Stadium in Guelph.
Bernd.Franke@niagaradailies.com 905-225-1624 | @TribSportsDesk