Coach Chisholm honored as medal bearer at Rick Hansen relay

StFX cross country and track and field head coach Bernie Chisholm was honored as recently at the local segment of the Rick Hansen 25th anniversary relay race. Coach Chisholm ran the final segment of the day at StFX Oland Stadium and was honored as a medal bearer.

Participants or medal bearers for the anniversary relay race were selected for making positive contributions to their communities. 7000 participants across Canada were selected to run, walk, wheel or bike segments of the relay race that traces the same route Rick Hansen wheeled during his Man in Motion World Tour in 1986.

As the relay race passed through the Antigonish community on September 13th, Coach Chisholm was joined on his run by many current members of the X-Men and X-Women cross country teams, along with local runners. The run was followed by a brief ceremony in which StFX Director of Athletics Leo MacPherson acknowledged Chisholm’s contributions to the running community both at StFX and in Antigonish.

Chisholm has been coaching X runners for the past 26 years and is a member of the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame. He led StFX to 10 AUS championship titles (3 men’s titles and 7 women’s), along with a CIS men’s silver medal in 2008, a bronze in 2010 and a women’s CIS bronze in 2007. Coach Chisholm has been named the AUS Cross Country Coach of the Year on 11 occasions (4 men’s coaching awards and 7 women’s) and has several years of national and international coaching experience as well. In addition to his StFX coaching duties, Chisholm coached at the high school level for 35 years, winning 57 provincial titles.