Emma Galbraith | Track and Field
Maclaine Chadwick | Fulcrum Staff
Photo courtesy of Richard Whittaker
“Meet a Gee-Gee” takes a look at the people under the jerseys. Whether they’re varsity athletes or otherwise, we ask the players questions you want answers to. We get the dirt, straight from the horse’s mouth.
MEET EMMA GALBRAITH: first-year psychology student and member of the women’s track and field squad. She recently broke a school record at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational meet in New York City, running 1000 metres in two minutes and 46.89 seconds—a time that also puts her on top of the Canadian Interuniversity Sports rankings for that race. Think you can beat her time? We dare you to try.
The Fulcrum: Can you describe a week in the life of a Gee-Gees track and field athlete?
Emma Galbraith: It’s difficult because there is a lot of time management involved, but it is also amazing because every single minute that I put that jersey, on it feels so good to be able to represent my university at different levels of competition. It feels great.
You recently broke a record for the 1000-metre race—would you say that’s your best race?
Indoor—yes. Outdoor, I run the 1500m and the 800m and I can’t seem to pick between both, but indoors the 1K is definitely my stronger run.
Who was your idol growing up?
I guess you could say Melissa Bishop—she runs 800m for Canada and represented them at the Olympics this year. She’s kind of my idol—I definitely look up to her.
What is the biggest misconception about track and field?
I think it would probably be that we just run around in circles and that we don’t really get anywhere so there is no point in doing it; but it is so rewarding at the end when you [improve] your capabilities. That would probably be the biggest [misconception], for distance running anyway.
If you could participate in any other sport at the U of O, what would it be and why?
All I’ve ever done in my life is run, really—so I guess it would be soccer.
What is the best part about being a Gee-Gee?
The best part of being a Gee-Gee is being able to represent the school through sports and being able to compete with different levels of athletes.
What is your fondest memory of being on the team?
I absolutely love training with the team. Every Wednesday we have highschool pinnie day, and that is probably one of my better memories. We just wear our high-school pinnies around the track—it’s kind of like a theme day.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome in this sport?
The biggest challenge so far has been running on an indoor 200-metre track. I’ve never had to do that before, and it takes some getting used to.
What is something that most people don’t know about you?
A lot of people probably don’t know that I love to paint—I love visual arts.
What are your post-graduation plans?
I would like to go continue in teachers’ college—I’d love to be a teacher and continue with running.
