Written By Laura Sinclair<\/a> of The Silhouette<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years ago, Gabe Ghiglione was devastated when he got the news that he didn\u2019t make the Marauders cross country team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After time trial, Ghiglione waited all night to find out if he made the team through an email that the coaches sent out to all of the athletes that tried out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around midnight, after hours of anticipation, he received an email from head coach Rory Sneyd letting him know that he would not be on the roster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was crushed,\u201d said Ghiglione. \u201cI was thinking of quitting running all together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with track try outs just a couple of weeks after the cross country time trial, Ghiglione decided to give running one last shot to test his limits and see what he was capable of achieving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI ran a 1500 metre by myself, and it sucked. It was absolutely horrible, because the standard was 4:15, and I ran a 4:16,\u201d said Ghiglione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the tryout, Ghiglione went up and talked to track head coach Paula Schnurr, who was hesitant about letting him on the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe said \u2018we\u2019ll see, we\u2019ll send you an email tonight,\u2019 and I was thinking they better not say no this time,\u201d said Ghiglione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghiglione waited by his computer, similar to how he did just two weeks before, but unlike last time, the email told him that he was on the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to two years later, and Ghiglione is not only one of the fastest runners on the team, but he is one of the fastest runners in the entire country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His success in the sport is due to his dedication to running that has stayed consistent since he has arrived to McMaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His dedication to his sport is also seen in some of the other activities he is involved in with the school \u2013 like the fraternity on campus, Phi Delta Theta, and his involvement as President of the ALS society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m the philanthropy chairman at Phi Delta Theta, so I\u2019m in charge of all of the philanthropy events and volunteering events, and different things that we do on and off campus,\u201d said Ghiglione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI joined the fraternity because I saw the state that the organization was in before I joined, and I took it and I\u2019ve been building it up, and I really like how its represented on campus,\u201d said Ghiglione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re known as the gentlemen on campus, so that\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of being a member of Phi Delta Theta, Ghiglione is also President of the ALS society here at McMaster, he teaches kayaking lessons with the outdoor club, and he has also been an instructor of the McMaster White Water rafting club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His involvement with several activities around the school separates him from the majority of the runners on the team and throughout the country, who usually just stick to school and training, because their time is extremely limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like they\u2019re missing out on their university experience, I\u2019m just having a different one than them,\u201d said Ghiglione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are other athletes on the cross country team who also happened to be very involved with the school, including Maddy McDonald, Paul Kolb, Chelsea Mackinnon, and Luke Charbonneau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the cross country team is easily one of the most involved varsity teams at McMaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to training, however, the majority of runners take it very seriously, and that is where Ghiglione differs from the rest of the pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of last summer I worked as a rickshaw driver in downtown Toronto, and I called that training, so in that sense I have alternative ways of training compared to the rest of the team,\u201d said Ghiglione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d be running around the track last year and Coach Schnurr would be yelling, \u2018run you crazy rickshaw driver,\u2019 that was her joke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past summer, Ghiglione was also a leader in MOOSE, which is a week-long portage canoeing trip in Algonquin Park for first-year students with the outdoor club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that week, Ghiglione and teammate Paul Kolb had to wake up at five in the morning in order to run for 80 minutes, before an entire day of canoeing and portaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had one run where we were bush-whacking the entire way, because we were in the interior of Algonquin. And when Paul and I are on a run, we\u2019re both really distracted trainers, so we\u2019d just go take a bizarre off-trail, or just stop to jump off a cliff or something, and we\u2019d get lost usually,\u201d said Ghiglione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His summer training methods would shock any serious runner who would have a very different definition of what constitutes as training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this one run\u2013that we counted as a run\u2013our group was doing a 1.6k portage, so Paul and I ran up with the canoes on our backs, dropped them off, then ran back, helped the rest of the crew and continued packing, and we just ran back and forth with the packs, and we were like, ah, that counts as a run, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from Ghiglione\u2019s differences in training, he also prides himself on getting to know as many people as he possibly can \u2013 which is a concept that can be difficult when being a part of a varsity team that generally does everything together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of runners tend to stick with their one group, but I really like expanding my social circles and having a lot of friends on campus,\u201d said Ghiglione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Ghiglione\u2019s busy lifestyle, the social aspect in university is extremely important to him, and he believes it as being something that is essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to chill sometimes, and not constantly be thinking about running. Having fun is important for the human brain, you need to do it,\u201d said Ghiglione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghiglione\u2019s involvement in several social circles around campus has made him a very popular person with a popular nick name \u2013 \u201cGabe the babe,\u201d which has stuck with him throughout high school, has followed him in university, and is now rippling throughout the CIS, as seen in the blog \u201cPutdowns & Prognostications,\u201d which includes CIS cross country predictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Ghiglione is laid back in many ways, when it comes to the competition and the future of his running career, he has very serious goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy goal for this year is to hopefully be an all-Canadian at CIS. Top 14 would be All-Canadian, but if I came top 20, I\u2019d be very happy with that too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Ghiglione\u2019s dedication and drive, finishing within the top 14 overall is a very reachable goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order for him to do this, he has made some big decisions in the past year, and has made a conscious effort to make running his main focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI decided to work in Hamilton this summer, because I wanted to train with the team, and that was a big decision for me, because two summers ago I worked in the Ottawa River as a white water rafting instructor, and there was no way for me to get training done there,\u201d said Ghiglione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghiglione worked at Altitude, the climbing tower on campus, and he worked as a wilderness instructor at a summer camp in the Hamilton area as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A job like that in the Hamilton area has allowed the coaches to remain in close contact with him and for him to get a solid summer of training in before the cross country season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for his other interests \u2013 which includes eventually returning to his summer job as a white water rafting instructor \u2013 Ghiglione knows that the option will be there for him after his running career is over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can just do all of that stuff later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, if I\u2019m still doing this running thing, I might as well do it well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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