After every race, Tristan McGuire heads to the nearest Tim Horton\u2019s for a Chocolate Chill.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my treat after a race,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s become a tradition for the young Hawkesbury athlete, marking another challenge for McGuire on his quest to become better and faster than any of his competition in cross-country running.<\/p>\n
The 15-year-old 10th grade student at Ecole catholique secondaire regionale de Hawkesbury (ECSRH) has been a competitive runner for three years. It all started with the walks that he and his father, Patrick McGuire, shared each day, a time for the two of them to be together just for the sake of being together.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was always our routine,\u201d Tristan said.<\/p>\n
The only problem was that McGuire senior moved a bit too slow for McGuire junior.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would be walking together,\u201d Patrick McGuire said, with a smile, \u201cbut he was always ahead of me. I was holding him back. So, I said one day, \u2018Go ahead\u2019, and he just took off!\u201d<\/p>\n
And take off, Patrick McGuire did.<\/p>\n
\u201cLa Baie Run in L\u2019Orignal,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was the first race that I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The community fundraiser event was the first taste Maguire, then 13, had of long-distance running as part of a group. He took part in the one-kilometre group and since then, he has kept on running.<\/p>\n
He joined the Hawkesbury Roadrunners Athletic Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when he really took off,\u201d said Patrick McGuire.<\/p>\n
Over the past three years Tristan has done La Baie Run twice, and also twice taken part in the Alexandria Community Run and entered in The Great Raisin River Race in Williamstown. He\u2019s done the Course du Canal across the Ottawa River in Grenville, Quebec, and also La grande vadrouille in Vaudreuil, le Sentier de l\u2019espoir in Rigaud, the Cours des couleurs in St-Lazare, and le championnats provinciale du Quebec. Tristan has also twice participated in the Valoris run in Embrun.<\/p>\n
At ESCRH he is part of the Kodiaks Para and Kodiaks Special Olympics teams. He also is a member of the City of Ottawa Special Olympics team As a child Tristan was diagnosed with autism, a neurological condition that manifests in varying degrees depending on the individual.<\/p>\n
As far as Tristan McGuire is concerned, having autism does not make him who he is. Running defines his character, challenging himself to be the best he can be, always testing his limits and striving to exceed them. He\u2019s proven that through his performances for the past two years, representing ESCRH with top three performances at the Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletics Association (EOSSAA) and the Ontario Federation of Secondary School Athletics Associations (OFSAA) season title events. He took the silver at OFSAA in his category this year, and he plans to go for the gold next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find it pretty calming,\u201d he said, about how running benefits him. \u201cIt gives me a lot of experience in exploring more places to run. I want to keep doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After every race, Tristan McGuire heads to the nearest Tim Horton\u2019s for a Chocolate Chill. \u201cThis is my treat after a race,\u201d he said. It\u2019s become a tradition for the young Hawkesbury athlete, marking another challenge for McGuire on his quest to become better and faster than any of his competition in cross-country running. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":103931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-loisirs"],"acf":[],"featured_media_global":[],"yoast_head":"\n