While the nation’s top senior athletes were thrilling the home crowd in Ottawa, the Ottawa Lions masters squad was busy making its own mark at the Canadian Masters Championships in Laval, Quebec. Over the three days of competition, Lions athletes captured an impressive 18 medals — including three national titles.
World record holder Wendy Alexis once again demonstrated why she’s among the very best in the world, sprinting to gold in the W70 100 metres. Despite running into a slight 0.5 m/s headwind, Alexis clocked 14.54 seconds — just shy of her own world record — to win by more than four seconds.
The weekend’s biggest medal haul came from thrower J-Angelo Beraldin, who rewrote the club record books with six podium finishes in a single championship. The 65-year-old earned silver in the M65 shot put with a 10.42m effort, and bronze in the discus, javelin, hammer throw, weight throw, and the throws pentathlon. Beraldin’s six-medal total surpassed the previous club mark of five medals, shared by Gean Hemming (1988) and Judy MacDonald (2010).
Beraldin was joined on the throwing podium by teammates Tom Pincombe and Kleanthis Tsichlas. Pincombe struck gold in the M45 discus with a 34.11m throw, winning by nearly a metre and a half. Tsichlas delivered a dominant victory in the M50 shot put, launching the 6kg implement a personal best 11.34m to win by more than two metres, and added a silver in the discus.
On the track, Michael Conway and Lawrence Williams each collected two medals in the 200m and 400m. Conway earned silver in the M40 200m (24.73) and bronze in the 400m (53.89), while Williams doubled up on silver in the M50 events with times of 25.52 and 57.52.
Kimberley Howitt earned silver in the W40 800m (2:24.28) and bronze in the 200m (29.67), while in the 100m sprints, Danette Nearing-Guibord claimed W60 bronze and Michel Smith took M55 bronze.
The masters domestic season wraps up next weekend with the Ontario Masters Championships in Toronto, where the Lions will look to close the year on another high note.