All posts by : Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club

It was a disappointing day in Marrakech for hammer thrower Sultana Frizell as she struggled with her form at the IAAF Continental Cup. The Canadian record holder opened with a throw of 68.34m before improving on each of her following three throws to finish with a best mark of 70.06m. The distance would place her in fifth overall in the eight person competition and earn her $5000 USD for her efforts.
The competition mark’s the end of Frizell’s season which has seen her improve upon her own Canadian record (75.73m), pick up her second consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medal and finish the season ranked fourth on the IAAF Top List – the highest ranking by any Ottawa Lion in the club’s 40 plus year history.

She’s won two Commonwealth Games gold, competed in two Olympic Games, and has even represented Canada twice at the Pan American Games, but when Sultana Frizell enters the hammer circle in Marrakech, Morroco on Sunday at the IAAF Continental Cup, she will do so for the first time.
Like the other major championships, the Continental Cup, formerly known as the IAAF World Cup, takes place every four years, but instead of donning the red and white of Canada, Frizell will be representing the Americas this weekend. Currently sitting fourth on the 2014 IAAF Top List with her Canadian record throw of 75.73m, the Perth native enters the competition ranked third behind world record holder, Anita Wlodarcyzk of Poland and Zheng Wang of China.
The Americas team, which features two athletes in each event, is led by a 32 athlete contingent from the United States followed by 11 Jamaicans. Canada is represented by nine athletes, its highest total ever for the event.
The competition gets started this afternoon at 1:20pm Eastern.

Ottawa – With the start of September, it can only mean one thing – time to go back to school. For three Ottawa post secondary institutions, it almost means getting back in to training to represent your school thanks to the help of the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club. The Ottawa Lions took over the reigns of the University of Ottawa varsity cross country and track and field program in the fall of 2007, adding a club program at Carleton University last fall on a month’s notice and is currently taking over to create the roots of leadership of the cross country program at Algonquin College this month.
Since taking over the leadership of the Gee-Gees, two athletes have qualified for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Cross Country Championships, while on the track Gee Gee athletes have won a staggering 32 medals at the CIS Championships including 13 national championships and 2 CIS records. The success of the program has allowed numerous local athletes to stay at home to raise their academic and athletic game including 2012 Olympian Oluwasegun Makinde and fellow multi national team member Michael Robertson. Entering it’s eighth season, the University of Ottawa has risen in popularity on campus with nearly 150 athletes set to join the Gee Gee team this fall. Among the key athletes returning this fall are CIS bronze medalists on the track Mohamed Souleiman (1500m) and Charlotte Gardner (600m) as well as 2013 CIS finalist Devyani Biswal, who sat out last indoor season due to injury.
Just down the Rideau Canal at Carleton University, the Ravens are getting ready for the second season under the direction of the Lions. In its inaugural season, with a team of 15 athletes, the Ravens competed as a varsity club in competitions across Ontario, Quebec and in the United States. As the team looks to grow to upwards of 30 plus members, head coach Andy McInnis indicates the team could attain varsity status as soon as fall 2015.
“The university is currently exploring options that could have the team competing at provincial and national championships in the near future,” said McInnis. “The benefit of which of course is such an opportunity will encourage more to get involved in the sport, using championship participation as the growing of wings on the bird.”
In the west end of town is the club’s newest post secondary partner, Algonquin College. The Thunder, who competed at the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) cross country championships in 2013, have lost their varsity status for 2014. However, McInnis believes “success of this
club program will determine the potential return of Algonquin College Cross Country
as a varsity sport.” In an effort to attain this goal, the head coach has one message for his team, “We are going to train and we are going to race!”
The cross country squads will be the first to get going, with the preliminary practice for all three teams taking place 10 a.m. this coming Saturday, September 6th, at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility at Mooney’s Bay.

Two very different events, two very similar results for Olympians Melissa Bishop and Sultana Frizell today at the IAAF World Challenge Meet in Berlin today. Bishop kicked things off in the 800m, crossing the line in 2:00.83 to finish sixth. Despite the rabbit going through the opening 400m in 58.34 seconds, it appears the pace fell off from there as the Tigist Assefa of Ethopia took the victory in a tactical 2:00.16.
In the women’s hammer throw, Sultana Frizell started off well with a throw of 71.11m to take the early lead, but she would fail to improve in the following five rounds. While she sat in fourth for most of the competition, Frizell was passed by Kathrin Klass of Germany and Martina Hrasnova of Slovakia in the fifth round. Attempting to push back, Frizell could only manage 71.07 in the sixth and final round. Polish thrower Anita Wloardczyk set a new world record of 79.58m for the victory.

The 73rd edition of the presitgious ISTAF Berlin kicks off Sunday afternoon in the German capital with Lions’ athletes Melissa Bishop and Sultana Frizell set to comepete against some of the world’s best.
Bishop will be the first to compete when she steps onto the famous blue track in the iconic Olympic Stadium at 3:55 pm local time for the women’s 800m. Melissa, who set a new club record in the 1000m last week in Amsterdam before spending a week training in Leuven, Belgium, enters the competition with a seasonal best of 1:59.70 to rank fifth on the start list. The top class field is headlined by Belarussian Maryna Arzamasova and former world champion Janet Jepkosgei of Kenya.
A little less than an hour later, Commonwealth Games champion Sultana Frizell takes to the field in the hammer throw. With the meeting in Berlin featuring on the IAAF World Hammer Challenge Series, the startlist is rich with top flight competition, including the current and former world record holders, Betty Heidler of Germany and Anita Wlordcyzk of Poland. Frizell enters the competition ranked fourth with her Canadian record throw of 75.73m set earlier this year.
Live results from Berlin can be found here.

It was a perfect weekend for masters runner Ray Wardle. The 81 year old sprinter capped off his summer season with three golds at the North, Central American and Caribbean Masters Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Kicking things off with the 400m final on Friday, Wardle ran a seasonal best of 1:29.54 to win by a commanding 37 seconds ahead of Eduardo Cruz Monge of Costa Rica. Wardle had run 1:32 enroute to winning the Canadian championship last weekend in Toronto.
Wardle continued his domination Saturday in the 100m, winning in a time of 17.35 seconds, more than two seconds ahead of Cruz Monge again. Ray pushed Cruz Monge back to silver for a third time in Sunday’s 200m final, as he won in 36.91 – more than 6.5 seconds faster than the Costa Rican.

As we get set for another outstanding season of athletics, you are hereby invited to come out and join us for the Ottawa Lions Registration Week for the 2014/15 year.

When: September 2, 3 & 4th 2014

Where: Terry Fox Athletics Facility @ Mooney’s Bay in the Blue Trailer

Time: 5 – 7 PM

Club staff, coaches and some of our national and international level athletes will be in attendance to answer all your questions.

Training will begin Saturday September 6th, 2014 at the following times:

• 9:00 am Youth Programs
• 9:30 am Junior Competitive
• 10:00 am Junior Development

The goal for Melissa Bishop last night was just to get the bugs out after a long Transatlantic flight as she took to the track in the 1000m at the Flame Games in Amsterdam. Mission accomplished for the Eganville native, who finished fourth in a new Ottawa Lions record time of 2:38.75.
Bishop, who had set the previous record  of 2:39.77 in February at the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston, will spend the next week training in Leuven, Belgium before competing in the 800m at the Berlin Diamond League Meeting next Sunday. She will be joined in Berlin by fellow Lion and former roommate, Sultana Frizell who competes in the hammer throw.

As the Canadian Youth Nationals came to an end today, Lions athletes ended on a high note, picking up three more medals to end the championship with seven in total – including two gold. Sunday’s take included one silver and two bronzes.
Kicking things off was Erinn Stenman-Fahey in the 800m who repeated her silver medal performance of a year ago. The world junior semi-finalist looked to pick up her first national title before she was nipped at the line by Ginelle Dimone of Alberta. Stenman-Fahey finished in 2:11.16, a tenth of a second behind Dimone.
While Colle Thompson picked up the next medal, winning bronze in the youth girls 200m, it was a while before her result was finally confirmed. Thompson was actually one of two athletes to pick up a bronze in the race as she crossed the line in 25.73 seconds, exactly the same time as Jorden Savoury of Quebec. In fact, a mere two one hundredths of a second separated third from fifth in the race.
The final medal of the day came from intermediate hurdler Austin White. The Kemptville native finished third in the youth boys 300m hurdles in a time of 39.66 seconds, regaining the medal won by high school and club teammate Matt Bedard at last year’s championship. Competing in the youth girls 300m hurdles, Hailie McKechnie placed fifth.
 

It was another two medal day at the Canadian Youth Championships on Saturday for the Ottawa Lions as Shona McCulloch picked up her second gold of the championships while Keira Christie-Galloway used some last minute heroics to grab a silver.
After capturing the 1200m crown on Friday, McCulloch took to the track Saturday in the midget girls 2000m, an event where she broke the Ontario Legion record earlier this summer. Shona won in a new personal best time of 6:14.15, just off the championship record of 6:13.71 set back in 2010.
For Christie-Galloway, she used some last minute heroics to to pick up her first national medal. Even making it to the midget girls long jump final was a struggle for the OFSAA silver medalist who could only manage a leap of 4.96m to scrape into the final in 8th place. After fouls in rounds four and five, Keira leapt to a new personal best of 5.38m in the final round to finish in second.
Despite being 15, Christie-Galloway also moved up an age category to help the youth girls 4x100m relay team to a fourth place finish. The team, which also included Shyvonne Roxborough, Colle Thompson and Hailey McKechnie completed the lap in 48.59 seconds, just 0.01 seconds out of the bronze medal position. The quartet were the top ranked club in the event as the medals were captured by Alberta, Quebec and Saskatchewan.
Roxborough, who captured a silver Friday in the 100m, finished seventh in Saturday’s long jump final with a best leap of 5.15m.  Also picking up seventh places finishes were Alexa Livingstone, who ran 10:03.93 in the 3000m and Erinn Stenman-Fahey in the 400m. The youth boys 4x100m relay team of Geoffrey Lawson, Austin White, Ethan Goodchild and Mitchell Frizell finished eighth in 44.53.
The action in Langley wraps up today.