All posts by : Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club

Ottawa’s Josh Cassidy made his move with three laps to go in the T54 5,000 metre final Sunday. Unfortunately, after sprinting into the lead Cassidy began to fall behind the pace, dropping back to 10th as he crossed the finish line.
Going for it was a tactic that he had planned from the start.
“I made the right choice there, by going to the front,” the 31-year-old said, after posting a 11:09.42. “I was further back and if the sprint happened I wanted to be up there and not pulling.
“As it went crazy, I just got pinched and went back, back, back to where I was before. My sprint even on a medium (soft) track like this isn’t the greatest so I tried to set myself up for the best position and that was it.”
Cassidy is striving for his first Paralympic medal in Rio and will have two more chances for it, racing in the 1,500m T54 heat on Monday and the 800m on Wednesday. The Lion athlete plans to stick to the same preparation.
“I think my prep was great today,” he said. “I had quite a bit of nerves in the semi which is unusual for me. As soon as it was done, completely relaxed, and I felt absolutely great with everything I’ve done so far.”
Also on Sunday, Jason Dunkerley and Josh Karanja finished second in the third heat of the T11 visually impaired 1500-metres to advance to Tuesday’s final. They crossed the line in 4:14.99, “It was a difficult race but we had our plan that we had discussed with our coach to get up hard and to get in a good position. That is what we did today. The competition is so much stronger than when I started 18 years ago, we’re just happy to still be in the mix and that we’re going forward to the final.”
 

As the Paralympic Games enter the second day of competition on Friday, wheelchair racer Josh Cassidy begins his push for gold. Rio will mark the third Paralympic Games for Cassidy, who’s best finish was a fifth place showing four years ago in London over 800m .
Josh will be racing the 5000m Friday night in the first of two heats, starting at 5:04 pm eastern. He will need to finish in the top three of his heat or be among the four fastest non-qualifiers to advance to Sunday’s final.
Cassidy enters the competition with the 10th fastest time in the world in 2016 – a 10 minute 7.77 second clocking from March.
The 5000m race can be viewed live on CBC.ca

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To:                   Ottawa Lions Members – Athletes, Coaches and Parents
Date:               Saturday, September 3, 2016
Re:                   Update – Club Information – Part 2
 Restructuring of Staffing and Programs for ages 11 to the +40 years programs
From:               Andy McInnis – Head Coach
NEW START-UP PROGRAMS AND INFORMATION
All these materials will be posted for information, action and enrollment in programs as of Monday, September 5. 

• Sept. 7 – Our Varsity X-Country Programs start
• Sept. 10 – Our Youth 6-12 Programs start (2 Themes –  X-Country / Speed-Power)
• Sept. 12 – Our Foundation 11-13 start (Endurance-Athleticism / Speed-Power-Athleticism)
• Sept. 12 – Our Aspire Programs 13-16 (Endurance Development / Speed-Power Development)
• Sept. 19 – Our Varsity Track & Field Programs start
• Sept. 19 – 17 + Competitive Track & Field Programs start
• Masters Athletes – contact us directly for your start-ups – info@ottawalions.com
• If you do not see where you fit – contact us and we will find you a home – info@ottawalions.com

NEW STRUCTURE AND STAFFING STRATEGIES
The Club “The Now”
We are cresting as a successful sports organization and as the most successful and largest of all track & field clubs in Canada.   The Club is unrivaled and amazingly is independent of funding from government and academic institutions for its operations.  Many other clubs have hoped to duplicate what we do and we are in the process of defining the operational foundations that have allowed us to be so successful.
 Volunteerism is at the very root of our successes and we would not be where we are without it.  The “volunteer” is our Club’s life blood and some of our volunteers are nearing 30 to 40+ years of supporting this organization.  It is the incredible nature of the symbiotic relationship of coaches and supporting staff in Ottawa.  Everyone plays a critical role in the development and support of our athletes.  It is not uncommon for athletes to experience coaching from 3 to 5 coaches or more over their sport career in the Ottawa Lions.   We have repeatedly delivered this and we will continue to deliver a path from “the playground to the Olympic Games”.   
Reflective leadership, supportive staff and an accountable, respectful Board of Directors has shepherded the Lion’s administration for well over four decades.  We continue to grow beyond programs, taking on larger roles and new directions in the development of our sport in the City of Ottawa and in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec.  No one else does what we do.   We are now very much a part of government politics, networking, education programs at all levels, facility development and equipment sustainability. 
Our capacities are being challenged and we recognize that we must evolve and adapt to meet the challenges of a new and ever-changing environment.  In doing this, the Club has identified a critical pathway and will be taking strategic action over the next five years in a modernized role for continued success and for a long future as a truly great sport organization. 
The Why?
Two months ago we were tasked by the Ottawa Lions Board of Directors to prepare the Club’s structure for a rapid and deliverable success for the immediate future.  It entailed reviewing and reorganizing, as necessary, the professional structure of the Club including the employees.  A significant number of the club’s leadership will be retiring and/or stepping back from duties over the next 5 years.    
The How?  
STAGE 1.         Effective Immediately
The restructuring and re-design of staffing covering the aspects office administration, competition hosting & event management and programs for 11 to 16 and then 17 years of age and upward.  
STAGE 2.         Effective Immediately to September 1, 2017
To review and modify as necessary the Club’s Youth Programs for ages 6 to 12 years.  Our current leadership has announced his retirement from his long and successful tenure as the Youth Programs Manager (Joe Burke) as of August, 2017.   We will proactively seek out, train and prepare the Club’s next generation of leadership for this program.
STAGE 3.         Effective Immediately to August, 2021
To prepare and implement a strategic plan for a succession of the Club’s overall leadership.  This is in response to the planned gradual delegation of duties of current Head Coach / Director – Andy McInnis over the next 3 to 5 years.
ACTION TAKEN – Stage 1
In a definitive effort to take Canadian club level track & field to the next level, the Ottawa Lions has moved forward with the initiative to increase the numbers of staff in a leadership and administrative roles.  The intention is to impact entry level athletes ages 11 to 16 programs with “athletic capacity” while challenging those athletes 16 and 17 years to move to individually identified technical program areas that are more organized, more individually challenging and competitive.  Training and program opportunities will then be integrated with our provincial, national and international level event area specific coaches. 
New position  “Program Leaders” (3 now and increasing to more in the future) will manage program delivery, challenging the capacity ages 11 to 16 years, while working with and supporting our next generation of volunteer coaches.   They will also have co-shared administrative responsibilities and will work to design out-reach support to the school systems to help locate our future stars.  The Program Leaders will also look vertically to assume more involvement strategically in the placement of the 16 to 17 year athletes to higher program challenges as well as Varsity Programs, Road Race and Masters program development.
Our Office Administrative Staff and Finance Staff will move to 3 positions to actively engage our membership and improve communications and social media content.   We will be launching online membership enrollment, payment and member management of our data base information.
The Competition Events Management Division of our Club will move to expand and integrate the services we provide to other organizations for timing and results with the technical planning, information, entries and logistics of all home competition hosting.   They will play a critical planning role in our hosting and delivery of the 2017 and 2018 National Championships in Ottawa. 
As always, we are available for any questions.  Please contact us at info@ottawawlions.com.

Notice to Membership
Date: August 28, 2016
From: Andy McInnis – Head Coach / Director
Re: Club Restructuring & Upcoming Programs (Fall 2016 onward)
We hope all of you have enjoyed the coverage and successes of our team and local heroes in the Rio Olympic Games. We do appreciate your patience as the Club moves towards a new office and program restructuring in the way we do business with all our members. This evolution has slowed down our posting of programs for ages of 12 years and older up to our Masters (40yrs+) members. The programs for 6 to 12 years of age however are fully up and functional. We have been awaiting new information impacting this Fall of 2016 start. The final outcome will however be innovative, flexible and promises the membership an exciting and challenging future in our programs. There will be a more detailed and an informative release coming out this week of August 29 to all and posted to our web site.
For the time being we can tell you the following critical points:
– The Terry Fox Athletics Facility will be “CLOSED” from Monday, August 29 to Friday, September 9th as work on a small project is completed to re-paint all the lane lines, start lines and hurdle markings as well as install new rubber in numerous areas for the field event jumps areas and 100m start area. All this work will be part of many projects to come as we upgrade our home at Terry Fox to host the 2017 and 2018 National Championships in early July. You will see a new equipment building near completion for our new equipment near the 100m start line, a new main gate entrance and new fencing. During September you will be able to see the construction and completion of the new upgrades to the Timing Tower at the Finish Line. There is a lot more to come! (Lights brought up to sport code, video scoreboard, and lot’s of infrastructure renewal)
– Programs will be starting on or about September 10th and forward depending on your age and program. Some programs will start as late as Monday, September 19th. The entire Club will be in full swing by this date. Specific Program starts will be posted by the end of this week on our web site.
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RIO DE JANEIRO — Canada’s Melissa Bishop just missed out on an Olympic medal after finishing fourth in the women’s 800 metres on Saturday at the Rio Olympics.
The 28-year-old of Eganville, Ont., set a Canadian record with a time of one minute 57.02 seconds, but was passed just before the finish line by Kenya’s Margaret Wambui and denied a spot on the podium.
Caster Semenya of South Africa won gold in 1:55.28, followed by Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi in 1:56.49 and Wambui in 1:56.89.
To read full article, click here.

RIO DE JANEIRO— It was a historic day for Lions athletes as both Melissa Bishop and Farah Jacques will compete for Olympic medals after both advancing to finals on Thursday.
Bishop was second in her 800m semi-final, crossing the line in one minute 59.05 seconds, just beating Poland’s Joanna Jozwik in 1:58.93. It marks the first time a Lion has qualified for an individual event final at an Olympic Games.
 
Bishop kicked her way home over the final half lap, distancing her self from the bunched up pack. “When there’s eight of us trying to run in one lane, it gets pretty tight,” Bishop said of a couple of bumping incidents. “I think it’s just making yourself aware. You know how long your stride is. You just have to gauge it off what everyone else’s is. It’s tough.
“I’m really excited. This is my first Olympic final, but certainly not my first final. So I think if I can rest up and recover well and come here on the day with everything at 100 per cent, I’ll be okay.” Bishop races Saturday night 8:15pm Eastern.
Farah Jacques ran lead off for Canada’s 4x100m relay team Thursday morning, helping the quartet to a seasonal best 42.70 second clocking, just thousandths ahead of China for the 8th and final qualifying spot. It was the first time running lead-off for Jacques, who admitted to feeling a bit nervous. However, she told Athletics Canada she is very excited and ready for tonight’s final. The women run at 9:15pm Eastern.
The final Lion competing on day seven of the track and field program was shot putter Tim Nedow. The 26 year old from Brockville managed to heave the ball out to a best of 20.00m to finish 16th overall. Nedow was battling to feel relaxed in the circle.
“Warm up didn’t feel that great, my first throw I just tightened up like crazy, that’s one of the disadvantages of being tall, if I tighten up it’s pretty much over,” said the Canadian champion.
“Second throw I was more relaxed, threw 20-metres which isn’t that bad, but it’s not great either. I wished that would have been my first throw, third throw again I tightened up at the last second, if not I feel like that would have been over 20.50-metres. At this level you can’t do that. Unfortunately, 20-metres wasn’t enough to make it through.”

RIO DE JANEIRO — Canada’s Melissa Bishop made it through to the semifinals of the women’s 800 metres with what was the fastest qualifying time of a strong field — and on a very fast track.
Bishop, 27, from Eganville, Ont., was in the middle of the pack after a lap but moved into an inside position, stride-for-stride with Marina Arzamasova of Belarus, who edged Bishop for the gold medal at the world championships in Beijing last summer. The pair outraced the rest of their heat in the closing lap, with Bishop finishing just in front in a time of 1:58:38.
“I think we’ll be good,” said Bishop of the preparation between today and the semifinal races on Thursday morning. The final goes Saturday night. “We have a really good team with Athletics Canada so, yeah, I think we’ll be good.”
Sixteen of the 24 qualifiers for the 800-metre semis ran below two minutes on a hot, sunny morning at Olympic Stadium.
To continue reading article, click here.
 

Sekou Kaba’s first Olympic experience didn’t quite go as planned Monday night at the
Engenhão Stadium in Rio. Kaba, a semi-finalist at last year’s World Championships, narrowly missed out on achieving the same feat, posting a time of 13.70 seconds to finish eighth in the fifth and final heat.
The hurdle event was not without its own built in dramatics as rain poured down into the stadium as the session commenced, leaving puddles across the track. The result was after the first two heats, the entire meet was suspended until conditions improved.
The delay lasted about 20 mins. Once back on the track, Kaba looked smooth in his race, running over the 42 inch barriers cleanly – an uncommon sight in men’s sprint hurdles. The result was Kaba’s second fastest time of the season.
Following the competition, the University of Ottawa grade took to Twitter to thank all his supporters. “”Tried 2 put on a front but failed to hold back tears. I’ve never felt support like this. Thank u guys sooo much. Will do better next time!”
Next up for the Lions in Rio will be Melissa Bishop who will run the 800m heats Wednesday morning.

The domestic season came to a close this past weekend with a silver lining for Lauren Gale, Lindsay Brandys and Barbara Bitchoka as Lion athletes competed at both the Canadian Youth and Eastern Canada Espoir Championships.
Making their provincial team debuts, first year senior athletes Brandys and Bitchoka came to play at the Eastern Canada Espoir Championships in Moncton. After setting the top mark in qualifying for the 100m, Brandys dropped a seasonal best time of 12.05 seconds into a blistery 1.7 m/s headwind to finish second to Quebec’s Émy Béliveau. Brandys also picked up gold in the 4x100m relay, as Ontario won by a comfortable three and a half second margin.
In the high jump, Bitchoka produced her second best effort of the year, clearing 1.68m to finish in second. Teammate Arabella Alton took gold with a 1.74m clearance.
At the Canadian Youth Championships Lauren Gale picked up the sole medal for the Lions on the weekend with her silver in the 400m. The 16 year old crossed the line in a time of 55.33 seconds.
Other Lions with top eight finishes in Ste. Therese included:
Lauren Gale – U18 Girls 200m – 8th 25.58 w-2.0
Keegan Gaunt – U18 Girls 800m – 8th 2:17.42
Julia Maine, Keegan Gaunt, Olivia Crewe, Carlee Townend – U18 Girls 4x400m – 7th 4:10.18
Caroline Poirier – U18 Girls Pole Vault – 8th 3.00m
Ben Robinson – U16 Boys 100m – 8th 12.09 w-3.0
Ben Robinson – U16 Boys 200m – 5th 23.93 w-3.6
Alex Pope – U16 Boys 300m – 8th 37.03
Joe Fast – U16 Boys 800m – 5th 2:02.85
Joe Fast – U16 Boys 1200m – 7th 3:18.86
Wariso Dullo – U18 Boys Javelin – 5th 53.17
 

It was a record breaking weekend at the Ontario Masters Championships for Leslie Estwick and Kim Ethier. While this was Ethier’s first foray into masters athletics, Estwick was named Ontario masters athlete of the year in 2001.
With Ethier and Estwick competing in the W45 and W55 categories respectively, they each swept the 80m hurdles, long jump and high jump with a total of five meet records between them.
In addition to meet records in the hurdles and long jump, Estwick equaled the Canadian Record of 1.30m in the high jump.
Also picking up multiple medals were sprinters Lawrence Williams and Wendy Alexis. Williams picked up double gold in the 100m and 200m, while Alexis took silver after being nipped at the line in the W60 100m by world champion Karla Del Grande. Wendy did get her gold in the 200m, beating Del Grande by almost four tenths of a second.
Medalists

GOLD – Kim Ethier W48 Long Jump 4.37m w1.0 MR
GOLD – Kim Ethier W48 High Jump 1.20m
GOLD -Leslie Estwick W55 80m Hurdles 14.54 w1.6 MR
GOLD -Leslie Estwick W55 High Jump 1.30m CR
GOLD -Leslie Estwick W55 Long Jump 3.48m 1.7 MR
GOLD – Lawrence Williams M45 100m 11.89 w0.4
GOLD – Lawrence Williams M45 200m 24.09 w0.2
GOLD – Wendy Alexis W61 200m 29.07 w0.5
GOLD – Jean Ferguson W50 200m 32.55 w0.5
GOLD – Jean Ferguson W50 5000m 21:30.79
SILVER – Wendy Alexis W60 100m 14.07 w0.7
SILVER- Michael Ferguson M50 5000m 19:58.92