On the right track

Newfoundlander Danny Earles blazing a trail of victories in the national running world

By Craig Westcott

The first time Danny Earles of Topsail ran in a competitive track event, he had to be bugged into doing it and showed up in basketball shorts, a tee shirt and sneakers. And the idea of wearing proper running spikes like the other competitors? The thought never occurred to him.
Today the 23-year-old Trinity Western University track star is turning heads and racking up so many best times that he’s been highlighted in Canadian Running Magazine and presented with a high-end pair of running spikes.
In mid-February, Earles was named University Sports’ Armour Athlete of the Week after he, as Canadian Running Magazine described it, “made a statement with a blazing 21.47 over 200m, catapulting himself into the #1 spot in the U Sports rankings.” 
That performance at the Whitworth Invitational in Sokane, Washington, also vaulted him into the number one spot in Canada’s national rankings of 300 metre runners.
Then, last month, Earles won bronze in the 200 metres at the Canadian Indoor National Championships in Toronto.
The business administration major is at the top of his game, setting personal best times and challenging university records, but still focused on getting faster and climbing higher.
It’s pretty impressive when you consider Earles was a latecomer to competitive running. Until his final year of high school at Holy Spirit in CBS, Earles was all about basketball and soccer, especially soccer, where his striking bursts as a left winger and striker got his gym coach Jason Desai pleading with him to try track.
“I was a pretty serious soccer player,” said Earles. “I started that when I was in second grade. I played on the provincial team for a couple of years… and then in June of my senior year of high school my gym teacher kept kind of bugging me, like, ‘Come on, Danny, we need you to go out, you could be a track runner. Go out there for the provincials.’ And I was like, “Ah, I don’t know, I don’t know.’ And then eventually they ended up convincing me.”
That first track meet was the provincial championships at Pearlgate Track in Mount Pearl.
“I went there and I won the 100 metre and the 200 metre,” said Earles. “I realized like, wow, this could be my sport. I remember crossing the (finish) line and just being like, ‘Wow!’ I was really surprised with myself, but I also excited about what was to come.”
Earles was approached at the meet by Memorial University track coach Jennifer Stender, who asked if he’s like to start training with the Seahawks.
“And I said, ‘Yeah, why not? That was kind of the start of it all. I’ve been training five days a week since then and taking it seriously since I started,” said Earles. “I knew I was fast at soccer, but I never really thought I would be fast enough for track. It wasn’t something I thought about enough.”
The following fall Earles entered MUN and started running for the Seahawks.
“And then Covid hit. During that I trained all the way throughout. I remember shoveling the track at Pearlgate. I would go out there with an icepick and a shovel and go out there to train,” said Earles. “I was e-mailing a bunch of coaches around the country trying to figure out a place to go. So, after Covid ended, I ended up going to Trinity Western. It just felt like the right place for me to go. I had a lot of big aspirations and the coaches there seemed like they were the main ones who believed what I was saying, they kind of shared the same vision as me.”
Earles is in his fourth year now at Trinity Western. The Langley, B.C., school is a top college for athletics in many sports with its athletes competing throughout the Pacific northwest, bringing them toe to toe with top talent from the United States.
“It definitely was a huge eyeopener,” said Earles. “You really realize there are a lot of levels to track. It’s very evident when you’re racing against someone who’s better than you. In other sports in could be subjective. ‘Oh, you could be better (than the other guy).’ But in track there’s a numerical value that just says who is better. It was a huge eyeopener, but it also made me excited to get to that level and keep getting pushed by my competitors.”
This past season was a particularly strong one for Earles. He came within a hair of setting the school record in the 200 metres — the record holder is now a wide receiver in the NFL — and matched the second fastest time for any race ever run in Atlantic Canada.
Earles specializes in the shorter distances, the 100 and 200 metres. “But I’m making a transition to be a 200-metre and a 400-metre runner this summer, because of my success in the 300 metre, which is a U Sports event that we do here. I’m going to try that out this summer.”
Earles also has a shot at making Canada’s national team. He’s making a push to record strong times to make the team for the FIFU (Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire) World University Games being hosted in Germany this summer.
When he is not running, or studying, Earles is working part time in marketing for a construction company during the college semesters and full time in the summer.
It was a big step to move across the country, but Earles believes it was the right one in his case.
“I definitely think it was,” said Earles. “It was a big culture shock for me at first. It’s about as far away as you get from Newfoundland, but I definitely think it was the right choice. It really helped me create some (self) discipline, they have a really great team culture, I had really good mentors with older teammates when I was coming through and with my coaches now. It’s helped me flourish into my role as team captain. It’s also a Christian school. I’m not a Christian, and it was a really big culture shock, but some of the rules that I live by and the moral guidance I think is a good thing to follow.”
Earles is running hard to beat the records of some of his Trinity Western mentors and predecessors, including Nathan George, who went on to run for Team Canada, and Praise Olatoke, the aforementioned wide receiver with the Los Angeles Chargers.
“They definitely set the bar pretty high for me,” said Earles. “But I enjoy those kinds of things, and I like chasing that, I like the challenge.”
The recognition from Canadian Running Magazine and the attention from university and national coaches also gives some inspiration. He was particularly pleased to be named the Under Armour Athlete of the Week. “It’s nice to be recognized like that,” Earles admitted. “They also sent me a pretty pair of shows, which was pretty sweet, so I’ve been using them and getting them dirty.”
They’re bound to get even dirtier as Earles maintains his strict training regimen.
“I’m going to keep at it day by day, keep working hard and once you get better every day the bigger opportunities will put themselves in front of you,” he said. “I’m graduating next year, so I’ll continue training after I graduate and I’ve got a job lined up for the summer, so I can continue working there after I graduate, so for now, I’ll be out in Langley for a little bit.”
Earle is on a scholarship, which he greatly appreciates, but vying to an elite athlete is still costly. Trinity Western covers all the travel costs related to his university competitions, but the costs of attending events outside that, such as his efforts to qualify for Canada’s national team, fall to him personally. “So, I’m definitely looking for sponsorships and I’ve been working on that a little bit,” he said. “It’s definitely a challenge, because you do have to pay a lot out of pocket, especially when you’re trying to get yourself established.”
And while Earles has his eyes set on national and international events to come, he hasn’t forgotten where’s he from, or how it started.
“I’m proud to be from Newfoundland, for sure,” he said.