All posts by : Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club

They say history has a way of repeating itself. For Lauren Gale, that’s exactly what happened at last weekend’s Colorado 4A State Track and Field Championships as she swept the sprints for the second time in three years.
The Discovery Canyon College senior was the class of the field in the 100m winning in an all conditions best of 11.79 seconds – nearly half a second up her nearest competitor.
The margin of victory grew over the 400m where the Colorado State University signee’s margin of victory ballooned to nearly two seconds. Gale’s time of 54.23 was significant considering the sideways rain that soaked competitors and fans alike to go along with the eight degree Celsius weather.
The final piece of the triple didn’t quite come as easy as Gale didn’t seal the victory until the final meters, winning in a time of 24.05 seconds, just 0.07 seconds in front of the second place finisher.

With a fury of competitions taking place over the past week, three Lions have risen to the top by either joining the club’s all-time top ten list or improving their position.
The first to make her mark was Erinn Stenman-Fahey who laid down the fastest 800m performance of her life to finish seventh at last weekend’s Big 12 Championship in Waco, Texas. The Iowa State junior finished in a time of 2 minutes 5.81 seconds, half a second faster than her previous best set this past January at a competition in Arkansas. Stenman-Fahey’s time makes her the seventh fastest in club history over the two lap event.
Also making her mark on the 800m list was Maeliss Trapeau who was victorious Swathmore Final Qualifier Meet in Pennsylvania on Tuesday in a personal best time of 2:06.60 to move to tenth all-time. Trapeau returned to the track less than 90 minutes later to set another lifetime best, this time in the 400m – finishing third in 56.73 seconds. However, that performance didn’t last long as the University of Ottawa student lowered the time again on Thursday with a victory at the Mideast Invitational in Chester, Pennsylvania with a time of 56.12 seconds.
Also yesterday, Lauren Gale began her quest for quadruple gold at the Colorado 4A state championships with a new lifetime best in the 200m. The Discovery Canyon senior won her heat in a time of 23.96 seconds to crack the 24 second barrier for the first time. The performance now moves Gale ahead of Olympian Rosey Edeh into fifth in club history. Gale was also victorious in her heats of the 100m and 400m and helped her school qualify third overall to the sprint medley relay final. The future Colorado State University Ram previously pulled off the quadruple gold in 2016. The finals take place Saturday.
Another performer of note is Adam Palamar who was victorious over 800m Saturday at the Oxy Invite in Los Angeles in a time of 1:50.78. The Canadian junior record holder over 1500m was also victorious over the same distance in his section of the USATF Distance Carnival last night – also in Los Angeles. Palamar’s time of 3 minutes 42.72 seconds was good for 15th overall.

Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic heroes, including Andre De Grasse, Brent Lakatos, Alysha Newman, Derek Drouin and Brittany Crew, descend on Ottawa July 3-8 for the 2018 Canadian Track & Field Championships.
Competition will be fierce for the prestigious honour of being crowned Canadian champion, in addition to a place on the Canadian National Team for Toronto 2018: Track & Field in the 6ix.
The event begins with free admission on July 3-4, with tickets starting as low as $20 per day for events on July 5-8 (children 12 years of age and under are free).

For more information on the 2018 Canadian Track & Field Championships, including a complete schedule of events, visit www.athletics.ca/ottawa2018.

• Venue map
• Parking map
• Frequently asked questions

*Please note, all tickets are sold as general admission.

It seems as though Saj Alhaddad has DJ Khaled pumping on repeat during his warm-ups because this season, all he does is win. Alhaddad upped his winning streak to four last night in Lynchburg, Virginia crossing the finish line in 52.58, nearly a full second ahead of Drew Pranka of Washington and Lee University.
The nearly 30 degree weather was a welcomed improvement Wednesday night after Alhaddad won Saturday in near freezing temperature while snow was falling from the sky. However, even at the University of Buffalo Invitational, the 25 year old’s victory was even more dominating, winning by nearly three seconds over the Buffalo runner.
Also on the weekend, Caroline Poirier upped her lifetime best in the pole vault to win the St. Lawrence University Twilight with a clearance of 3.65m. Despite the cold and raining temperatures outside, Poirier and teammate Claudine Nafaa got some reprieve from the elements by jumping in the indoor fieldhouse. Nafaa was third with a best clearance of 3.05m.
Outside, Jodd Nelson was able to successfully battle the elements and the competition to win the men’s 100m in a time of 10.89 seconds. He would later follow that up with a third place finish in the 200m.
Further south in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Farah Jacques continued to show improvement in the hurdles placing eighth in a time of 13.66 seconds. The performance moves the 2016 Olympic relay finalist into seventh on the all-time list. Jacques also posted a seasonal best performance of 23.74 seconds in the 200m.

The outdoor season is slowly getting under way and 400 metre hurdler Saj Alhaddad put out the message he will be one to be reckoned with in the 2018 season. The 25 year old took a wrecking ball to his previous life time best en route to winning the Duke Invitational Saturday in Durham, North Carolina in a time of 51.34 seconds.
Alhaddad’s performance not only took more than six tenths off his personal best, but was also the fastest time by a club member in the event since 1999, moving him to fourth on the club all-time list. He is currently ranked second in Canada.
Also south of the border, Erinn Stenman-Fahey was fifth and sixth respectively over 800 metres and 1500 metres  at the Cardinal Classic in Palo Alto, California. The Iowa State junior produced the sixth fastest time of her life over 800 metres, running 2 minutes 7.27 seconds while her 1500 metre performance of 4 minutes 29.55 seconds was the third fastest in her life.
Across the pond at the London Marathon, Joshua Cassidy capped a busy week, finishing ninth in a time of 1 hour 31 minutes and 41 seconds. Competing just five days after a cold and grueling Boston Marathon performance, the two time Paralympian was in the hunt for a victory almost the entire race before falling slightly off the pace in the final two kilometres, to finish 26 seconds out of first.
Elsewhere, at the Grenada Invitational in St. Georges, Divya Biswal recorded a seasonal best mark of 12.39m to finish fifth in the triple jump. As well, Farah Jacques opened up her 2018 outdoor season at the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge with a 13.83 second performance in the 100 metre hurdles to move to seventh in club history.
 

Braving howling winds, unseasonable cold and lashing rain, Ottawa runner Jason Dunkerley finished third among visually impaired men competing in the Boston Marathon on Monday, his first time taking part in the prestigious race.
“I think it’s one of the coldest races I’ve done, for sure,” Dunkerley told CBC News by phone after the race.
Dunkerley finished third in the men’s visually impaired division with a time of 3:13:58. He was hoping to finish around 2:40 but the wet weather proved a difficult challenge for him and his guide, Rejean Chiasson.
Ecuador’s Luis Calo finished first at 2:48:01 followed by American runner Charles Davis at 2:56:22. Christopher White of Ontario finished fourth with a time of 3:26:11.
“It was cold and there was headwind most of the way coupled with the rain. Rejean and I were just pretty cold much of the way through. When you get cold like that and you’re running you kind of just tighten up and things don’t work as well,” Dunkerley said.
“It affects your overall race. Definitely, in a marathon it can have a pretty big effect.”
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Hammer thrower Sultana Frizell fell short of her bid for a third straight Commonwealth Games gold Tuesday, finishing just off the podium in fourth place.
Frizell’s best throw of 63.94 metres came in the fourth round following increasing distances in each of the first three. After failing to improve in round five, Frizell laid it all out on the sixth and final effort. ““I was really close and trying to get after it on my last one, because you just have to go after it. I think I actually threw it out of bounds, so it was a big fat zero,” she told Athletics Canada after the competition.
While she may have lost her gold, Frizell was able to retain her Games record of 71.97m for four more years.
In addition to defending her Canadian hammer throw championship this July at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility on July 6, Frizell has plans to throw some other objects this summer. “I’m going out on the Highland Games circuit. I’m going to take my mini kilt and [travel across] Canada chucking a whole bunch of things.”

While by many accounts, shot putter Tim Nedow is a mild mannered man, this morning at the Commonwealth Games in Australia, the Brockville native showed he has a flare for the dramatics en route to winning his second consecutive bronze medal at the quadrennial event.
While a third round effort of 20.65m had Nedow nearing in on the podium, he sat fourth most of the competition. In fact, the five time Canadian champion slipped to fifth entering the final round after Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi leap frogged him into silver with a personal best heave of 21.14m in round five.
[getty src=”943677162″ width=”594″ height=”411″ tld=”ca”] Nedow was undeterred by the event, telling Athletics Canada, “I know what it takes to get a medal. I was pretty pumped up; I wasn’t nervous at all. I had to go for it.”
Went for it he did, using all the powerful levers of his 6’7″ frame to hurl the 16 pound steel ball out to 20.91m and cement his position on the podium.
“I’m pretty happy with that throw. I’m a pretty consistent guy, every throw is about 20.50 metres, but I knew this competition was going to be pretty strong. As you can see, second through sixth was all over 20.50 metres. I’m pretty happy with how that turned out right now,” Nedow told Athletics Canada following the competition.
Lions are back in action on day three of the athletics competition down under as Sultana Frizell goes for her third straight Commonwealth Games Gold in the hammer throw.
 
 

It was as simple as 1,2,3 or maybe just 1 for shot putter Tim Nedow as one throw is all it took for him to secure his spot in the Commonwealth Games final. Nedow, the defending bronze medalist in the event, unleashed a throw of 19.92m in the early hours of Sunday morning (Ottawa time) to make quick work of qualifiying.
The Brockville native will return to the circle at 6:30am on Monday morning (Ottawa time) for a shot at another Commonwealth medal. Nedow’s biggest competition should come from the defending champion O’Dayne Richards of Jamaica and New Zealand’s Tom Walsh who shattered Richards’ Games Record in qualifiying.
The news was less positive for sprinter Charifa Labarang who pulled up 50m into her 100m heat on day one of athletics competition at the Games. Following her race, Labarang took to Instagram to thank everyone for their love and support, declaring “Unfortunately, due to a hamstring injury the games are over for me. This is still an amazing learning and inspirational experience that I will cherish forever.” The University of Ottawa graduate had been scheduled to run the 200m and 4x100m for her native Cameroon.
Also on the sprint straightaway, Oluwasegun Makinde placed 36th overall in men’s 100m qualifiying with a time of 10.59 seconds. The Colonel By graduate will now shift his focus to the 4x100m relay which will begin Thursday night (Ottawa time).