This past fall, Memorial Athletics announced that Memorial varsity alumnus and St. John’s native Paul McCloy would serve as honorary chair of the 2014 Canadian Interuniversity Sport Cross-country Championships. The annual event was hosted by Memorial for the first time on Nov. 8 in Pippy Park.

“I was honoured to have the opportunity to be at the championships and have the role of honorary chair in my hometown,” he said. “I will cherish this experience.”  

Mr. McCloy is the greatest middle and distance runner to come out of the province. He represented Memorial in cross-country and track and field during the early 1980s. He was a member of two Atlantic University Sport cross-country championship teams and also represented Memorial at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) level, winning the individual race in 1981, 1983 and 1984.

A standout athlete, Mr. McCloy was named a CIAU (now CIS) First Team All-Canadian for all five of his years as a varsity athlete. In 1986 he was elected to Memorial’s Athletic Honour Society, the highest honour the university bestows on student-athletes for outstanding contributions.

Following his varsity career, Mr. McCloy went on to represent Canada at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. He is also renowned in St. John’s for his long-standing record of the Tely 10 road race in a time of 47:04 set in 1985.

Serving in the capacity of honorary chair was very different from Mr. McCloy’s past CIS experiences.

“You actually notice more because you are not so focused on your own performance,” he said. “I worried about things like how the course was set up and the weather in a different way than I would as an athlete.”

His concerns were not unwarranted. Come race day, a wind warning was issued for St. John’s with gusts over 110 kilometres per hour. Despite the less-than-ideal conditions, Mr. McCloy felt the championship was a success.

“I thought the event went off well despite the challenges. The wind was just another variable. It could have snowed or rained with ankle-deep mud, but athletes expect these things in cross-country.”

At a banquet held the night before, Mr. McCloy spoke to student-athletes from across Canada. He recounted what it was like to train in Newfoundland and Labrador with limited resources while continually facing harsh weather conditions.

Now residing in Calgary, Alta., Mr. McCloy was thrilled to return to St. John’s, saying the magnitude of the event “seemed a bit surreal.”

“Seeing that many great athletes in St. John’s is a once-in-a-generation event. I would have loved that opportunity.”