Inquire about Men's Cross Country @ La Roche College

---

A brief historical overview of our cross country program is in order. Cross country at La Roche College was started in 1994 under the stewardship of Matt Driscoll. In fall 1995, George Guiley began his lengthy and distinguished tenure, guiding the men's and women's teams to become increasingly competitive within the AMCC. Coach Guiley served a key role in promoting cross-country running as a sport. In 2006, Coach Guiley handed over the reigns of the program to Sortiris Aggelou, who in turn, bequeathed the leadership of the men's and women's cross country teams in 2007 to Joshua B. Forrest -- the current coach. Coach Forrest intends to rebuild both men's and women's teams with a view toward increasing both the number of runners and the quality of performance gradually during the next few months and years.

To promote cross country more generally on our campus, in fall 2007 the cross country program established an on-campus running & training schedule for runners of all abilities. We wish to promote running as a ‘health-first' activity among all students and to encourage any student to ‘jump in' to any afternoon training session or an early morning run. During cross country season (in the fall, starting the first week of classes), training sessions for the men's and women's teams are held 4:30pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday trainings are held 12:30pm, and for those who cannot run at that time, a 4:30pm option is also available on Wednesday. In addition, our assistants conduct early morning runs at 7:20am Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

All afternoon trainings and early morning runs depart from the front entrance of the Kerr Fitness Center . All runners at La Roche College are welcome to participate in our daily trainings and early morning runs.

About the Coach...

Joshua Forrest: Running Profile

•  Jamaica High School Cross Country Team,Queens, New York City, 1970-1973.
    Varsity runner (5 th on squad).
•  42nd place (of approximately 600 runners) in Queens Borough High School Cross     Country Championship, 1973.
•  Trained under the late Dan McClimon, head coach,men's cross country team, University     of Wisconsin, 1973-1974.
•  6 th place (of about 200), Cross Country Mountain Race, regional championships, the    Alps of southern France, Aix-en-Provence, October 1975.
•  5-mile PR: 27:27.
•  Kenosha Track Club member, Madison, Wisconsin,    1976-1980.
•  1980s/1990s: Trail and road-running in West Africa    (Senegal, Guinea-Bissau);
    Southern Africa (Namibia ); Cuba (rural trails); Lisbon    (north woods, Portugal);
    Montreal ( Canada); Chicago (Ill.); Milwaukee (Wis.); Burlington (Vt.);
    New Orleans (Mo.).
•  September 2003, PaceSetter 5k (3.1 miles), Schenley Park, Pittsburgh , Pa.,
    8 th place overall (out of 100); 1 st place 45-49 age group. Time: 19:59.
•  Board member, West Penn Track Club, 2003-2004.
•  West Penn Track Club volunteer assistant, 2004-present.
•  July 2005, John Woodruff 5k (3.1 miles) in Connellsville , Pa.: Place: 41 st overall
    (of 92); 3 rd place 45-49 age group. Time: 21:44 .
•  Total years (as of 2007) as a distance runner: 37.

Coaching Philosophy :

•  Persistence pays off;
•  Focus on (build up to) a few key events each year;
•  Hill training;
•  Alternate distance and speed work;
•  Swedish ‘fartlek' training;
•  Occasional track workouts; Trail running;
•  More trail running;
•  No-distraction running; Flat-terrain pace running (to learn how to run a specific pace);
•  Self-diagnosis as you run;
•  Promote patience to run a steady pace, then insert rapid-pace increases,
    and finish strongly;
•  Injury prevention techniques;
•  Avoid over-training;
•  Stretching (before & after);
•  Soft-surface training;
•  Promote hard running with rigorous academic studying;
•  Learn time-management techniques;
•  Promote healthy food consumption and non-alcoholic drug-free lifestyle;
•  Consider college cross country as the basis of a lifetime of running and health    maintenance;