St. Thomas runners are tying up their laces for this year’s Atlantic University Sports cross-country championship hosted by STU at O’Dell Park, Oct. 31.
21-year-old Paul Nozicka is running in next month’s event and hopes STU will do good this year. The number of runners have been down lately, but Nozicka believes that the team is a good place for new runners to join up and progress as athletes.
“I’m proud considering the ups and downs the team has been through the last few years,” said Nozicka. “We are still building a team.”
Assistant Coach Jeffry Amos has been working with the runners to prepare them for the championship. “I try to get the runners out for the weekend, that’s the most important thing. (I) make sure they can recover completely, you want them to taper down before the championship.”
For Amos, to prepare the team for the championships he is, “helping out making sure the runners are doing their workouts properly.”
“There’s a few (runners) ready for the most part. The team has a lot to do for the AUS. We are competing against bigger universities, it’s going to be a challenge.”
The length of the track for men at the AUS championship will be 10 kilometres long, and six for the woman.
“It’s always been a learning process, we’ve been lucky to have [Head Coach] Alex Coffin, Jeff Amos and the new coaches especially for the woman’s team,” said Nozicka.
This year STU has incorporated assistant coach Mary Astle to the woman’s team. “She is connecting well with the woman, we have lots of support in terms of coaching, said Nozicka.”
“You have to be optimistic and work with the coaches to build a strong team.”
Head Coach Alex Coffin is looking forward to this year’s championships at O’Dell.
“It was our turn to host the AUS Championships but we are very pleased to host them,” said Coffin. “STU hosted the Cross Country Championships in 2010 and it was a huge success.”
Former Head Coach Scott Davis will be helping organise this year.
Coffin traines the runners for about 90 minutes including warm-up and warm-down.
“We usually start with a 10 minute easy jog followed by dynamic stretching and short sprints,” said Coffin. “We keep our workouts fairly short in order to accommodate all levels. It is understood that all runners who are aspiring to higher mileage will do a lot of that training themselves.”
“We train primarily at O’Dell Park, Queen Square, and the Pedestrian Bridge. In the winter me move indoors to the CFB Gagetown facility.”
Nozicka has been putting a lot of hours into his training program. “I’ve been running hard, watching what I eat, staying healthy, getting lots of sleep, and pushing myself hard in workouts.
That’s the thing about running,” said Nozicka, “you have to look after your body. I have been training throughout the summer, I feel healthy.”
This is Nizicka’s final year at STU and he feels he must, “go all out,” before he leaves. He enjoys working with the team and said he wants, “to be the best runner he can for the champs.”
“I’m confident that STU will host a great championship. It should be a positive experience.”
