Ottawa, ON – Athletics Ontario’s Outdoor Junior & Senior Track and Field Championships are set to take place this weekend (Saturday July 19, and Sunday July 20) in Ottawa, ON. This meet has attracted experienced international competitors including TJ Lawrence, from G-Force Track Club, who competed at the Indoor World Championships this year. Additionally, 2014 Canadian Championship bronze medallist, Ashley Maddex, from the Ottawa Lions TFC will be looking for gold in an extremely competitive women’s 100m hurdles field, which includes 2012 Olympian, Nikkita Holder of Project Athletics Track & Field Program.
The meet will feature approximately 700 athletes and is hosted by the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club and will take place at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility. Events will begin Saturday morning at 10:30 am with the Senior Women’s Javelin, Senior Men’s Long Jump and the Junior & Senior Men’s Shot Put. The first event on the track will be the 100m Heats, starting at 11:00 am. With admission only $5 per person, and children 12 and under are FREE, make sure to bring the family and catch some of Canada’s present and future track and field stars in action.
In the Overall Provincial Outdoor Club Standings, the Ottawa Lions TFC will be looking for the 10th consecutive Team title, after having won each year since 2005. In the Senior category, the Lions, have won the past 3 years. In the Junior category, the University of Toronto Track Club are the reigning club champions, after accumulating enough points to dethrone the Lions, whom had won the previous 8 years. Windsor Legion, London-Western TFC, Speed River and York University TFC, will be sending strong contingents as well.
The Ottawa Lions TFC will be gearing up for this Provincial Championship event, following their hosting of the 2014 Combined Events Festival, which includes the Panamerican Combined Events Cup and Canadian Junior/Senior Combined Events Championships, which takes place at the nation’s capital at Terry Fox Athletics Facility at Mooney’s Bay, and started Wednesday and runs through Friday. It was also announced by Athletics Canada, that Ottawa will be the host for the 2017 & 2018 Canadian Junior & Senior Championships.
More information including the final schedule, the performance list and the technical information can be found at the following link:
Events to Watch
Event: Senior Women’s 100m Hurdles
Event Highlights: Two Ottawa Lions TFC athletes, Ashley Maddex (2012 NACAC U-23 bronze medallist, ranked 7th in Canada and was the bronze medallist at the 2014 Canadian Championships) and Karelle Edwards (ranked 10th in Canada) are amongst the favourites in this highly competitive event. Hayley Warren of University of Toronto Track and Field Club, ranked 5th overall in Canada and 2012 Olympian, Nikkita Holder of Project Athletics, ranked 11th overall in Canada will no doubt add a blast of energy to the Terry Fox Athletic Facility.
Schedule Event Time: Day 1 Semi-finals at 12:10pm, Finals at 3:05pm
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Event: Senior Men’s 100m
Event Highlights: TJ Lawrence of G-Force TC, tied for the 7th overall ranking in Canada, he recently competed at the World Indoor Track & Field Championships back in March. Also in the race are Aaron Bowman of London, Ontario and Michael Leblanc of South-East Athletics (New Brunswick), both tied for the 10th overall ranking in Canada at the 100m distance.
Scheduled Event Time: Day 1 Heats begin at 11:00am, Semi-finals at2:45pm, Finals at 3:25pm
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Event: Junior Women’s Shot Put
Event Highlights: Obeng Marfo of York University TC, ranked 1st in Canada in the Junior women’s shot put, and 6th in the Junior women’s discus. She was a member of the 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships team. Her teammate, Fatim Ammor, ranked 4th overall in Canada will also be competing.
Scheduled Event Time: Day 1 11:00am
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Event: Junior Men’s High Jump
Event Highlights: 2014 Canadian Junior Gold medallist from Quebec, Philippe St-Hilaire of Les Vainqueurs will be challenged by #2 Ranked, Leaugen Fray of Quinte West TC and Tacuma Anderson-Richards, from Pickering, Ontario, ranked 2nd and 4th juniors in Canada respectively. Tacuma was a member of Canada’s 2013 Pan Am Junior team following a bronze medallist finish at the Canadian Junior Championships.
Scheduled Event Time: Day 2 10:0am
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More Athletes to Watch
Charifa Labarang, the Ottawa Lions Club product is competing in the Junior Women’s 100 (Day 1 at 11) and 200 (Day 2 at 10:30) metre events. Ranked 13th and 23rd in Canada in the respective events, she is the top seed in both events at this meet.