OTTAWA — Charlie Mortimer has been named one of 8 recipients of the Brian Maxwell Memorial Scholarship, the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations announced, capping four years of athletic and academic achievement for the Ottawa Lions distance runner at Hillcrest High School.
The $5,000 award, presented annually to 4 male and 4 female student-athletes continuing their education at a Canadian college or university, goes to students whose character reflects the honesty, integrity and compassion Maxwell demonstrated throughout his life. Mortimer becomes the eighth Lions athlete to receive the scholarship since its inception in 2007, following Saul Taler in 2025 and Lauren Alexander in 2024.
A 10-time OFSAA qualifier, Mortimer capped his high school career with a fourth-place finish in the Open Boys 2000m steeplechase, building on a fifth-place result in Senior Boys Cross Country earlier in the year. Nationally, he placed eighth in the 5000m at the Canadian U20 Championships. He also competed on Hillcrest’s soccer and ultimate teams over his four years.
Mortimer’s leadership off the track carried particular weight. He organized the school’s intramural program for three years and served as Co-President of the Student Council in Grade 12, helping revitalize the intramural program — work that earned him two school awards and that he considers among his most meaningful accomplishments.
He maintained an average above 90% in the classroom and will study Life Sciences at Queen’s University this fall, joining Taler, last year’s Lions recipient, on campus. Mortimer has also given back to the Club directly, volunteering with youth programs and supporting the Lions’ Twilight Meets, and rounded out his high school years as a violinist in the school orchestra and guitarist outside of it.
The scholarship honours Maxwell, a distance runner who won OFSAA, Canadian junior and Canadian senior titles before making Canada’s 1980 Olympic marathon team and co-founding Power Bar with his wife, Jennifer. He died of a heart attack in 2004.
Mortimer and the seven other 2026 recipients were formally honoured Friday at a reception in Stouffville.