Impressive debut for BT runner

Aden Hendriks made an impressive debut Wednesday on the high school track and field scene.

The Grade 9 student at Blessed Trinity won both the novice boys 800 metres and 1,500 metres by comfortable margins.

“I got into running on and off last year after track and field and I have been getting more and more into it this spring,” the 14-year-old Grimsby resident said. “It is sort of a way to decompress after a long day. I have a lot of extra-curricular stuff going on at school that is not a lot of active time. I go home to run and I can load off all my thoughts.”

He is in the choir and in the band four days a week at Blessed Trinity and plays the clarinet and guitar.

“My heart is in music but they are two different things. Running is more with the mind and it is more of a mental exercise.”

He has no set training schedule for track.

“I do it on my own time whenever I feel like running. Before I was doing more running at the track as hard as I can and now I did cross country in the fall and I do more distances.”

He is taking the spring track and field season one meet at a time and isn’t making any grand predictions.

“I don’t really have a target. I want to go wherever it takes me. If I run as hard as I can, that is my goal.”

He likes the mental aspect of running.

“The body can do so much before it collapses and it is like, ‘I am extremely tired but I have to keep running.’ And often I puke. I puked today and that is fine because I am alive and you are pushing you body to the limit and it’s what your mind can accomplish.”

With his victories, Hendriks advanced to the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships next Wednesday and Thursday at Welland Centennial.