Featured Athlete of the Week: Alec Purnell (Dundas Valley)

Alec Purnell is the poster child for what a student athlete should be.  In short, he is athletic, academic, well balanced, focussed and friendly.

Featured Athlete of the Week – Alec Purnell

Athletically, Alec is an OFSAA level track and cross country athlete. This 15 year old Grade 10 student is already a triple OFSAA medalist. In Grade 9 he won Silver in the 800m and Bronze in the 400m. This year he led the Junior Boys Cross Country team to the silver medal at OFSAA.  Outside of school Alec won the Athletics Ontario Provincial Championship in the 800m and the Royal Canadian Legion Provincial Championship, also in the 800m.

In Grade 2 Alec discovered he was fast when he started winning races against older boys at school. This created an interest and from there Alec joined the Hamilton Olympic Club.  Alec is a great learner and he has had good coaching. Along with his club coaching, Alec also has excellent coaching at school, from the likes of Mike Smith, Rich Gelder and Paul Fox.

Alec credits Kenyan runner David Rudisha, Usain Bolt and his own teammates for his inspiration. He also comes from an active family where running is a family affair.

Off the track, Alec enjoys math, cycling and hanging out with friends. He enjoys travelling, especially trips to Jamaica and England, where he catches up with family.

Although he is only in Grade 10, Alec has set some impressive but reachable goals. He would like to earn a scholarship to Oregon University for Track, compete in the Olympics, and become an orthopaedic surgeon. He also wants to volunteer his time as a coach.

The hardest part of profiling Alec was catching up with him. He is truly ‘on the move’ in more ways than one.

Each week Athletics features a “Feature Athlete of the Week” randomly chosen from one of our secondary schools competing in HWIAC play.  Watch for this feature every Wednesday!