Well-known cross-country/track coach Travis Cummings has been named the 2019 Athletics Alberta Grassroots Coach of the Year for his contributions to community development of athletics in Alberta.

The award recognizes his voluntary commitment to providing programs, races, opportunities for Alberta athletes, and development of community sport. His nomination weighed heavily upon the creation of the Cochrane Endurance Project two years ago.

Cummings is passionate about athletics. He envisioned the Endurance project as a chance to grow the sport of running, with heavy emphasis on making it both inclusive and accessible. 

Cummings says he was surprised to receive the award and considers it a testament to the entire Endurance project.

"It was not like I was expecting it, or anything like that, but it was quite an honour. I was quite flattered," says Cummings.

While it was his vision, Cummings says many people have worked hard to bring it to life.

"I've got lots of people involved helping out, and their really engaged. Things have taken off the last five or six months," says Cummings. "I'm pretty excited about what we're going to be doing over the next couple of years here. Once the COVID stuff goes away, I think we're going to be able to do some damage in the athletics community."

The club was formed two years ago and is already making a mark in cross-country. They've competed in the last two provincials and last November sent nine athletes to the nationals in Abbotsford, B.C.

Recently, Cummins has been brought on by Athletics Alberta as a cross-county consultant.

"We've been working pretty closely with Alberta Health Services and we've got a cross-country series off the ground for southern Alberta, so we're actually going to be able to have racing come September. So that's pretty exciting."

The first in a series of races is scheduled for Sept. 12 but is subject to change. All will be held in Calgary for the south, and there's also a series in the works for northern Albertra.

He says there's keen interest in the races, especially with university and high school sports a no-go at this point.

Cummings himself was a competitive runner for over 20 years, including five years of varsity competition split between the University of Calgary and Queen’s University. He competed at the local, national, and international level in track/cross-country.

He's also been coaching the cross-country/track at St. Timothy High School for the last 10 years.

Recently, Cummings turned his attention to the pool, and joined the Master swimming program He's competed locally, provincial, nationally and internationally, and along the way focused on improving his technical skills and times.

Athletics Alberta is the provincial governing body for track and field, cross country and road running. As a branch member of Athletics Canada, Athletics Alberta is made up of individual members, member clubs and affiliated organizations. It's purpose is to promote, encourage and develop the widest participation and the highest proficiency in the sport of athletics.