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Balancing cross-country and track and field

Thereโ€™s a big difference between racing 800-metres and 10,000-metres. Second-year track athlete Hudson Grimshaw-Surette is proving that he can do both. 

โ€œHeโ€™s too talented and competitive not too,โ€ said cross-country and track and field Head coach Rich Lehman about why Grimshaw-Surette is running for both sports.  

The kinesiology student dabbled in cross-country last year, running in two races. He came 14th at the DAL/SMU 8-kilometre invitational last September, and finished 37th at the Universitรฉ Laval invitational 10-kilometre race last October.  

However, his main focus is on the track. A middle-distance runner, Grimshaw-Surette came 7th in the 1000-metre and 11th in the 600-metre races at last seasonโ€™s U-Sports track and field championships. He was named Dalhousieโ€™s Male Rookie of the Year.  

โ€œLast year I didnโ€™t really wanna [run cross country] as much and then I got to the team aspect of it and I realized that it was actually kinda fun,โ€ the Yarmouth, N.S. runner says. 

Lehman says that Grimshaw-Suretteโ€™s ability to run cross country was never in question, but they โ€œdidnโ€™t want to push things too muchโ€ in his first year. 

This year, heโ€™s taking it more seriously, after the menโ€™s team lost several key runners: Cal DeWolfe, Graeme Wach and Will Russell. 

โ€œI just wanted to help out,โ€ Grimshaw-Surette says. 

In a team atmosphere, Lehman says that Grimshaw-Surette is โ€œa natural leader.โ€ 

โ€œHeโ€™s got a lot of confidence. Heโ€™s pretty good at getting the guys where they need to be in a workout,โ€ Lehman says.  

Whether thatโ€™s mentally preparing for a tough workout or making sure people are taking it easy. โ€œHeโ€™s really good at managing his emotions,โ€ says Lehman.  

So far, Grimshaw-Suretteโ€™s cross-country season is going well. In the University of Prince Edward Island invitational meet in September, he placed 8th. He was the second Tiger to finish, less than a second after English exchange student Bryn Smith. 

Dal is hosting the AUS championships at the end of October. Grimshaw-Surette doesnโ€™t have high expectations for himself. โ€œItโ€™s more of a show-up and hope for the best kind of thing,โ€ he says. 

Given his performance so far, hoping for the best could lead to a finish inside the top ten, His focus is on the team winning. 

โ€œI just want to contribute to the team as much as I can,โ€ he says. โ€œI wouldnโ€™t say that I have a placing goal as much as a team goal โ€“ to win.โ€ 

The menโ€™s cross country team won the AUS championship last year and are looking to defend their conference title. Lehman says that while Grimshaw-Surette is an asset for that goal, itโ€™s important to remember that cross-country is not his speciality. 

โ€œThereโ€™s no point in losing sight of what he actually does,โ€ says Lehman, which is to โ€œrun two laps of the track really fast.โ€ 

Grimshaw-Surette agrees, saying that running cross-country will help him get a good fitness base before he focuses on the 1,000-metre and 800-metre races of the track season, but that โ€œitโ€™s mainly for fun.โ€ 

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