Yesterday, Athletics Canada announced its nominees for their annual awards with two prominent Lions members featured among the list of potential winners. Recognized for his excellent season on the track was Oluwasegun Makinde as the University of Ottawa student was nominated for the Dr. Fred Tees Memorial Trophy as the Top Athlete registered in a Canadian University. It was a banner season on the track for the Colonel By Secondary School product, representing Canada on no less than three separate occasions, highlighted by double gold in the 200m and 4x100m relay at the Francophone Games this past September. Makinde, who was also a World University Games finalist over 200m and an alternate on the Canadian 4x100m relay at the IAAF World Championships, is up against former Lions teammate Alicia Brown, now competing for the University of Toronto, and 800m runner Anthony Romaniw of Guelph.
The man responsible for Makinde’s training, Glenroy Gilbert, was also recognized for his efforts, as one of three nominees for Coach of the Year. In addition to his work with Makinde and world 100m semi-finalist, Gavin Smellie, Gilbert is best known for his work with Canada’s 4x100m relay team. Gilbert led the team of Gavin Smellie, Dontae Richards-Kwok, Aaron Brown and Justyn Warner to bronze at the IAAF World Championships in August. It was the first global medal for a Canadian relay team since Gilbert helped Canada claim gold at the 1997 World Championships. Gilbert had also been recognized for his coaching success in October as he was presented with the Petro Canada Coaching Excellence Award.
The winners will be announced mid-December and honoured during the 2014 Canadian Track and Field Championships in Moncton, New Brunswick.