The Running Principal continued to school opponents in his 70s - St. Catharines Standard

Tony Giblin, The Running Principal who continued to school middle-distance runners until he was in his 70s, is being remembered as a lifelong educator and for his single-minded focus as a runner.

Giblin, who died at age 88 last week in St. Catharines, was the picture of determination, whether he was practising or racing for a medal, recalled Roy Collins, co-founder of St. Catharines Road Runners and Walkers.

“He had a few people who would run with him and ask him for advice, but he was a ‘loner-type’ runner. I know the Road Runners used to meet at Burgoyne Woods on Saturday morning and he’d come out, but he wouldn’t give any advice to anybody,” Collins said.

“The only advice he gave to me was, ‘Ground hard and hang on.’ I don’t know whether it always works, but that’s the sort of person he was.”

Collins first heard about Giblin in 1976 and spoke to him a year later “when he was doing laps around the Brock carpark.”

“He would do 10 laps, which was 10 miles, and I joined him for No. 7, and that was because I couldn’t keep up,” the retired pharmaceutical industry administrator recalled with a chuckle.

“He trained almost as hard as he raced.”

Giblin, who emigrated from the United Kingdom to Canada in 1965, became a charter member of the St. Catharines Road Runners. He participated in such events as a 24-hour relay that had 10 runners taking turns completing a mile to raise funds for a woman who broke her neck diving into a swimming pool.

Giblin, who in 1976 received a medal from then Gov.-Gen. Roland Michener for winning a 1,500-metre pre-Olympic race in Toronto, was nine years older than Collins. From time to time, they competed in the same events.

“I was still in the open class when he was a master. He became a master in 1975.”

Giblin was a career educator who taught high school before serving as principal at several elementary schools in what is now Niagara Catholic District School Board.

Collins admired Giblin’s dedication to teaching and described his fellow runner as a first-rate educator.

“His career was really brilliant because he did not suffer fools easily. He was pretty focused, a good administrator,” Collins said. “I asked him one time how he felt about people who shouldn’t be in teaching.

“He said, ‘Well, what I do is gently talk to them about the number of different careers which are available, and would hope they find something else.’”

After retiring as a school administrator in 1990, Giblin shared his experience as a “visiting teacher” with the College of Education at Brock University.

“He did that for 20 years. He would go there one day a week, something like that,” Collins said.

For many years, Giblin was a “daily lunchtime vision” on the university’s campus.

“Running around Brock’s carpark, a quick 10 miles rain or shine, before running to work,” Collins said.

Giblin is survived by his wife Crys and their four children, Julia, Andrew, Tim and Jennifer.

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The Running Principal continued to school opponents in his 70s - St. Catharines Standard
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