Moncton — Friday was another successful day here in Moncton at the Canadian Track and Field Championships as Lions athletes added five more medals to the vault, highlighted by golds from Paralympic athletes Curtis Thom and Jason Dunkerley.
On the heels of his victory in Thursday’s T54 100m, Thom demonstrated his range by claiming the 400m title as well in 48.22 seconds. The time was just off Curtis’ seasonal best performance of 48.06 seconds set back in May at a meet in Switzerland. A finalist a last summer’s Paralympic Championships, Thom will be in contention to be named to Canada’s team for the upcoming IPC World Championships in Lyon, France.
Also ascending to the top of the podium yesterday was multiple Paralympic medalist Jason Dunkerley as he captured the T11 800m crown. Dunkerley, who was competing in just his third race since donating a kidney to his wife earlier this year took the title in 2:07.35. Finishing second in the race was Jason’s brother Jon in a time of 2:15.44.
In the decathlon, Patrick Arbour captured his third national championship medal in four years with a silver. Arbour had previously won bronze in 2010 and 2012. The former University of Ottawa Gee-Gee’s score of 7254 points was his second best performance ever in the event and sets him up nicely as he heads off to Kazan, Russia next week to compete in the World University Games.
Rounding out the medalists on day two was Joshua Cassidy, who captured a bronze in the T54 5000m.
