Brock University athletes will follow in the footsteps of the Major-Gen. Sir Isaac Brock Saturday in a grueling 11 kilometre run that has become a right of passage for hockey players.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s hockey coach Murray Nystrom started the tradition in 1998 and said it is mandatory for his players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like taxes,\u201d he laughed. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those experiences that as you do it, as you are in the middle of it, there\u2019s not much enjoyment but when it\u2019s done, there\u2019s a sense of pride.\u201d<\/p>\n
The annual run, which has grown to include other Athletic teams, is a bonding experience for the athletes and fosters a sense of pride in Sir Isaac Brock\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe route that we take, following Brock\u2019s actual path, has a significant historical element to it that\u2019s important for our athletes and students to know,\u201d Nystrom said.<\/p>\n
On Oct. 13, 1812 Brock, commander-and-chief of British forces in Upper Canada during the War of 1812, received word of a battle at Queenston and with a regiment of soldiers started the trek from Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake.<\/p>\n
On that fateful morning, Brock raced from Fort George to Queenston. It was to be his final act. He was fatally wounded while leading his troops into battle against the Americans.<\/p>\n
Brock\u2019s regiment did it in double time with a hundred pounds of gear on their backs.<\/span><\/p>\n The route isn\u2019t easy; with most of it snaking its way uphill along the Niagara River before cutting inland up the escarpment towards Queenston Heights.<\/p>\n Athletes share the dread of the arduous run but Nystrom said that\u2019s part of what makes participating an accomplishment they remember. Often when talking to alumni, the run is a favourite reminiscence, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBrock\u2019s regiment did it in double time with a hundred pounds of gear on their backs,\u201d Nystrom said.<\/p>\n Brock hockey player Daniel Tanel will do the run for the fifth time this year.<\/p>\n \u201cI would be lying if I said I look forward to it every year,\u201d he joked. \u201c\u201cIt\u2019s very long and hockey players aren\u2019t used to long-distance running but the team keeps it fun.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a good team building event for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Each year, Nystrom invites other teams to participate in the run and typically there is a good crowd. This year he expects the women\u2019s hockey team, cross country running team and women\u2019s volleyball players to take part.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Brock University athletes will follow in the footsteps of the Major-Gen. Sir Isaac Brock Saturday in a grueling 11 kilometre run that has become a right of passage for hockey players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":35060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,1],"tags":[3336,3337,363],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35059"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35059"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35064,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35059\/revisions\/35064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}