All posts by : Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club

It was another OFSAA Championship and another provincial gold medal for Shona McCulloch, a grade 10 student at Longfields Davidson Heights Secondary School in Barrhaven. McCulloch took home the title in the junior girls 4km race in a time of 14:43.5, nearly five seconds ahead of Christi Konstantopoulos from Toronto Prep. The result marked Shona’s third OFSAA gold after winning midget cross country a year ago in a photo finish and dominating the 3000m on the track this past spring. Shona will look for more OFSAA medals as she heads to Burlington this weekend as part of Longfields Davidson’s field hockey team.
The biggest OFSAA winner from the Ottawa Lions may just have been coach Kirk Dillabaugh, the head coach at Glebe Collegiate, who lead the Gryphons to their third consecutive overall girls OFSAA team title as well as a silver medal in the overall boys race, just two points out of first. Dillabaugh’s team at Glebe managed to pick up medals in 5 of the 6 categories, including taking home gold in the senior girls division. The team lead by Lions Claire Smith and Alexa Livingstone won gold with a measly 68 points, 207 ahead of their nearest competitor.
Full results for Lions athletes:

Cameron Caughey	Senior Boys	Bell HS	26th
Lia Codrington	Senior Girls	Canterbury HS	94th
Hannah Dolin	Senior Girls	Canterbury HS	128th
Michal Leckie	Senior Girls	Canterbury HS	104th
Erinn Stenman-Fahey	Senior Girls	Canterbury HS	43rd
Thomas Saville	Senior Boys	Carine Wilson SS	88th
Sara Borrens	Junior Girls	Franco Cite	128th
Adrian Fournier	Midget Boys	Franco Cite	29th
Reilly McCann	Junior Boys	Franco Cite	15th
Talia Brennan	Senior Girls	Franco Ouest	49th
Spencer Giddings	Junior Boys	Franco Ouest	120th
Michael Mather	Junior Boys	Franco Ouest	19th
Farah Abdulkarim	Senior Boys	Glebe CI	Team Bronze (34th)
Alexa Livingstone	Senior Girls	Glebe CI	Team Gold (18th)
Finn Perreault	Junior Boys	Glebe CI	Team Bronze (58th)
Keili Shepherd	Junior Girls	Glebe CI	Team Silver (19th)
Claire Smith	Senior Girls	Glebe CI	Team Gold (6th)
Nathalie Day	Midget Girls	Holy Trinity CHS	45th
Owen Day	Senior Boys	Holy Trinity CHS	16th
Nicholas Abanto-Enns	Senior Boys	Lisgar CI	59th
Sam Kinahan	Senior Boys	Lisgar CI	159th
Shona McCulloch	Junior Girls	Longfields-Davidson Heights SS	Gold
Jonathan Rioux	Midget Boys	Louis Riel	9th
Fiona Schute	Midget Girls	Nepean HS	163rd

 
 

With the OFSAA Cross Country Championships getting set to kick off Saturday morning with the midget girls race at 10:15 am, two dozen Lions members will be representing their high schools at the provincial championships. Returning medalists from last year’s championship include gold medal winners Shona McCulloch of Longfields Davidson Heights and Owen Day of Holy Trinity as well as silver medalist Claire Smith of Glebe.
McCulloch would appear to be a favourite in the junior girls 4km race following a dominating summer season on the track which saw her win national gold in both the 1200m and 2000m. For Owen Day, he will be in tough to replicate last year’s golden performance in the junior category as moves up to the senior level. Meanwhile in the senior girls category, Claire Smith will undoubtedly re-engage her battle with Charlotte Prouse of London. While Prouse won last year in Sudbury, Smith dominated her on the track in June’s OFSAA 3000m final.
There will be more on the line than just individual glory for Smith as she leads a Glebe team looking to get a hand on the team title. She, along with club mate Alexa Livingston will look to improve upon their fourth place finish in the senior category last year. The ladies, along with junior runner Keili Shepherd will be looking to repeat as overall girls champions.
Also from Glebe and looking to make a runner for the podium will be Farah Abdul-Karim as he looks to improve upon his sixth place finish from a year ago. He certainly has the pedigree after claiming last year’s Athletics Ontario youth title and finishing third in the steeplechase at OFSAA Track and Field back in June.
For complete details, check out Trackie.ca’s OFSAA XC page
The complete list of Lions competitors are as follows:

Cameron Caughey	Senior Boys	Bell HS
Lia Codrington	Senior Girls	Canterbury HS
Hannah Dolin	Senior Girls	Canterbury HS
Michal Leckie	Senior Girls	Canterbury HS
Erinn Stenman-Fahey	Senior Girls	Canterbury HS
Thomas Saville	Senior Boys	Carine Wilson SS
Sara Borrens	Junior Girls	Franco Cite
Adrian Fournier	Midget Boys	Franco Cite
Reilly McCann	Junior Boys	Franco Cite
Talia Brennan	Senior Girls	Franco Ouest
Spencer Giddings	Junior Boys	Franco Ouest
Michael Mather	Junior Boys	Franco Ouest
Farah Abdulkarim	Senior Boys	Glebe CI
Alexa Livingstone	Senior Girls	Glebe CI
Finn Perreault	Junior Boys	Glebe CI
Keili Shepherd	Junior Girls	Glebe CI
Claire Smith	Senior Girls	Glebe CI
Nathalie Day	Midget Girls	Holy Trinity CHS
Owen Day	Senior Boys	Holy Trinity CHS
Nicholas Abanto-Enns	Senior Boys	Lisgar CI
Sam Kinahan	Senior Boys	Lisgar CI
Shona McCulloch	Junior Girls	Longfields-Davidson Heights SS
Jonathan  Rioux	Junior Boys	Louis Riel
Fiona Schute	Midget Girls	Nepean HS

It was an exciting Saturday morning atop the hills of Fort Henry in Kingston as the University of Ottawa Gee Gee women’s cross country team finished fifth overall at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championships to earn a spot at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Championships.
Led by veteran Isabelle Kanz, the Gee Gee women placed four runners in the top 30 on their way to scoring 145 points. The total was 11 ahead of Laurentian for the final spot at nationals. Kanz, finishing 20th, completed the 6km course in a time of 22:10.69. She was followed closely across the line by Ruth Burrows, who finished in 22nd, crossing just 4 seconds later.
A spot at the national championships was not the highlight of the day for the women, as first year student Katie Phillips took home the honour of OUA Rookie of the Year based on her 29th place finish. Phillips, from Kleinburg, ON, was the top placing rookie in the event as she crossed the line in a time of 22:23.30. Finishing hot her heels for the top rookie award was Lions member Alex McGowan, running for the University of Waterloo.
On the men’s side, the Gee Gees finished 8th overall, posting a score of 237 points. Matthieu Vierula was the first across the line, finishing the 10km course in 33:25.12 to finish 33rd.

Congratulations go out to former Lions Yves Sikubwabo (Guelph) and Alex Wilkie (Queen’s) who were both named OUA All-Stars for their respective third and fifth place finishes.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014
While Terry Fox Athletic Facility remains open for practice, the Youth Program (ages 6-12) is cancelled due to the on-going lockdown situation downtown today.
Throwing practice with coach Joe Burke is also cancelled for tonight.

To all current annual members of the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club, please be advised a special general meeting will be held the evening of November 19th. The meeting will take place at the Dome @ Louis-Riel at 7:15pm.
The meeting is to have one agenda item – a membership vote on a new proposed Articles of Continuance. The new Articles of Continuance is a required process for the club to continue to operate under the new Not-For-Profit Corporations (NFP) Act.
To access a memo containing more information about the purpose of the meeting and the proposed Articles of Continuance, please click here.

If past year’s are any indication, more than 500 school children are expected to descend on the running trails surrounding the Terry Fox Athletic Facility at Mooney’s Bay Saturday morning for the fifth annual Eastern Ontario Elementary Schools Cross Country Championship presented by Scotiabank. Athletes will compete across three age categories to earn the title of fastest kid in Eastern Ontario.
Athletes placing in the top ten in each category will receive a scholarship to train with the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club, while the top schools will all receive a $100 donation to to their sports program. For the school with the best combined finish across all the categories, a donation of $400 will be awarded.
The registration deadline for this year’s event is Thursday night at 9pm, so please follow instructions on the event webpage to get your team signed up.
Following the elementary schools competition will be the inaugural uOttawa Cross Country Invitational and Alumni Fun Run. For the current crop of Gee Gee athletes it will be their final test before heading down the 401 to Kingston the following weekend for the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) XC Championships on the famed Fort Henry course, while the fun run aims to bring together for Gee Gees for an enjoyable 5km tour of Mooney’s Bay. The event is slated to begin at 2:30pm.

The Ottawa Lions have just received notice from management at the Dome @ Louis Riel they will be replacing their turf fields immediately. The result of this is the Club has pushed back it’s move to the Dome until November 1.
The turf replacement process is expected to last 2-3 weeks. While the track will not be affected, the process will produce fumes making the facility temporarily unsafe to athletes.
Should members have any questions regarding this delay, please feel free to contact the club office or speak to your coach.

Hammer thrower Sultana Frizell has earned a number of titles over her career – Olympian, Commonwealth Champion, Canadian Record Holder – and following last night’s Athletics Ontario award banquet she can add Athlete of the Year to her resume. She shared the title with high jumper Derek Drouin who cleared a Canadian record height of 2.40m this year.
The Perth native was rewarded for the best season of her career which included such highlights as a Canadian record throw of 75.73m that ranked her fourth globally and a second straight Commonwealth Games victory. Frizell also captured her fifth national title in a championship record 73.78m. She was also awarded the senior female thrower of the year award.
Frizell wasn’t the only Lion rewarded for their efforts in 2014. Erinn Steanman-Fahey received the Youth Distance Award for her outstanding season in the 800m. In addition to finishing second at the Canadian Youth Championships over the distance, Stenman-Fahey also captured the silver medal at the national junior championships prior to being named to the World Junior Championship team. It was at those championships in Eugene, Oregon where the grade 12 Canterbury student had her most impressive performance – running a lifetime best 2:06.97 to qualify for the semi-finals.
Keira Christie-Galloway was recognized for her successes at both the provincial and national level, taking home the award for top female midget jumper. The St. Matthews student was a provincial champion in the long jump before using some late round heroics to leap to a personal best 5.38m to capture a silver medal at the national championships. C
In addition the annual awards, two Lions were recognized for the body of their work as long time javelin coach Bill Heikkila and former champion race walker Ann Peel. Both individuals had previously been inducted to the Ottawa Lions Hall of Fame – Heikkila in 2003 and Peel in 2009.

As evidence of Heikkila’s impact on the club, 9 of the 10 best javelin throwers in Lions history have all excelled under his tutelage. In addition, he has also served as coach on numerous Canadian teams, including the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. Before putting on his coaching hat Heikkila was a highly successful javelin thrower himself, as he was an All-American thrower at the University of Oregon before competing for Canada at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
Peel was a dominant force in Canadian women’s race walking during the 1980’s, winning 11 national championships during that time over 5000m, and 10km. For her success, she was named to represent Canada on multiple occasions, winning two bronze medals at the IAAF World Indoor Championships as well as a World University Games bronze and two Pan American Cup of Walking championships. She also held the Canadian indoor 3000m walk record from 1989 until just this past winter.