Cross country runner named CIS Athlete of the Week after claiming individual title
Ross Proudfoot was named CIS Athlete of the Week after outracing 92 competitors to win the 10-kilometre race by 11 seconds with a time of 30:15:00 in Kingston on Oct. 25. Proudfoot was awarded OUA First Team All-Star honours, named OUA MVP, and OUA Athlete of the Week. The fifth-year human kinetics student is looking to win his first CIS individual title on Nov. 8 in St. John’s.
Proudfoot took the time to talk about initially getting into the sport of cross country, his time spent as a Gryphon, and what’s ahead.
Stephanie Coratti: How long have you been a Cross Country athlete?
Ross Proudfoot: In high school is kind of where I would have started training, so the first time I ran club as a sport outside of school would’ve been grade ten cross country. But I had been running it, like, in grade five when you got those days off school. I’ve been running cross for a while.
S.C.: Was there anything specific that attracted you to the sport?
R.P.: In elementary school, getting a day off was cool (laughs). I think basically, I was an overall athlete as a kid, so me and my friends kind of decided to go for it, because it seemed like something completely athletic. Basically, just knowing I was good at working hard and aerobically and other sports, I just thought this would be something that I would be good at.
S.C.: What’s the best thing about being a member of the Gryphons’ Cross Country team?
R.P.: The Gryphons’ Cross Country team specifically has to be winning. We have really cool experiences because we finish so well, and we get to train every day against the top guys. Getting to go to Wisconsin this year to compete against NCAA Division 1 teams and stuff, too. You wouldn’t get the chance to do that anywhere else. That is definitely the top thing for competing with Guelph.
S.C.: Is there anything that’s challenging?
R.P.: We have a really high standard so to even be on the team or make the travel squad is kind of hard. You have to show up every day and train the hardest in the CIS, as well as you’re always going head-to-head with the other competitors. When we go to practice, you know you have to beat the guys around you to win and everyone has similar goals, so just managing inner-squad competitiveness and then obviously working our ass off every day are kind of the hard points for Guelph specifically.
S.C.: Who has been your biggest influence to date, if anyone?
R.P.: Ultimately just the coaching staff that got me involved and influenced me to keep going […] My support system – family, friends – people that just supported me running at a university level, and then my high school club coach in helping me get to where I’m at to make Guelph’s team.
S.C.: You’re heading to St. John’s to go after your first individual CIS title. Is there any extra pressure there?
R.P.: I’ve gone into CIS a bunch where it’s just another race, and I’ve been in the mix since about second year for possibly winning an individual title, so I’ve always had that experience. But I think this year is a little bit special it being my fifth year and I still haven’t won Cross Country individually for CIS. So, it’s definitely my last shot. I think I’m going to head into it with a little bit of a different mindset, and really try to focus on getting it done this year, and making sure it’s the biggest race of my collegiate career yet.
S.C.: Any additional goals and aspirations?
R.P.: This year is the Pan Am and World Champs year. I run the 1500 here in the summer for track so it’s a bit of a distance change, but I’m gonna be in Guelph the next year and a half and doing summer seasons up until 2016 to try to qualify for [the Olympics in Rio], so this year immediately would be the Pan American championships in Toronto, and then the World Championships in Beijing, China.