The CBC Sports guy – who runs

Whether you remember his name or not, you have seen Scott Russell on CBC Sports. Scott has been a recognizable face of Canadian sporting events on television for a number of years.

Scott Russell

Scott is a 56-year-old CBC Sports broadcaster who has covered 12 Olympics, world track and field championships, the Commonwealth and Pan American Games, and numerous other events.

The father of two is a runner. He’s married to a runner and has a 24-year-old son he describes as an avid runner.

Scott started running regularly in 1986 when he met his wife. She was an avid runner and he wanted to keep up with her. In 2003 he completed his first half-marathon in Toronto and in 2004 qualified for the Boston marathon with his personal best time of 3:20.

Scott says his most memorable runs were a gut-wrenching, emotional race at the Boston Marathon and when he had the chance to run in the Torch Relay for the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

“I ran in Moscow past the Luzhniki Ice Palace, site of the 1972 Summit Series of Hockey. I cried afterwards. It was because I love the Olympics and what the flame is supposed to mean. Also because it filled me with a sense of history and gratification to be the only Canadian running the Olympic Torch in Russia that day.”

What do you like about running and what keeps you doing it?

It’s my connection point to sport. It allows me to stay in the game and to be fulfilled physically. Running is the foundation sport. It allows me to fool myself into the belief that I’ve still got it, that somehow I can run like a child and to my heart’s content.

How do you fit your running into a busy work and life schedule?

I fit it into my schedule by using running as a way to accomplish goals. To get errands done, to see new places. I absolutely love running as a means to discover new territory as I have all over the world through my work. I’ll do the same thing in Shanghai.

Do you have any running plans or goals for 2015, besides the relay?

Goals for this running season are the Pan Am Torch Relay, the Mississauga half-marathon, the CIBC Run for the Cure that I run every year and an event called the “Canoe Heads for Kids” which helps send underprivileged kids to summer camps, where I am honourary chair and head of the CBC team.

Running connects so many people. Something that many of us may do alone but through races and sharing our stories we can connect and share.

Run on, Scott.

Scott was also featured in the Janruary/Febraury issue of Canadian Running.

Do you have a running story to share?

runningwriter@hotmail.com

You can also find me on Twitter @NoelPaine and on my personal blog.