Congratulations to Ottawa Lions sprint coach Glenroy Gilbert, who was recognized Friday night at the Sport Leadership Conference in Calgary for his work with Canada’s national relay program. Gilbert was honoured with the Petro Canada Coaching Excellence Award, which is presented annually to recognize coaches whose athletes excelled at world championships, Olympic and Paralympic Games, and at the Special Olympics World Games.
Glenroy, who took over as the head of Canada’s men’s sprint relay program following his own successful career with the national team, led the quartet of Gavin Smellie, Aaron Brown, Dontae Richards-Kwok and Justyn Warner to bronze this August at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. It was the first medal for a Canadian relay team at the World Championships since Gilbert and company won gold in 1997.
Gilbert becomes the third Ottawa Lions coach to be awarded the Petro Canada Coaching Excellence Award, following in the footsteps of club Head Coach Andy McInnis who guided the Canadian 4x100m relay team to back to back global championships at both the 1996 Olympic Games and 1997 World Championships. In 2012, coach Ian Clark was recognized for his efforts in leading Jason Dunkerley to two podium finishes at the Paralympic Games in London.
