All posts by : Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club

The Ottawa Lions kicked off the new year with a bang yesterday at the Super Saturday Series Meet #2 at the Dome @ Louis-Riel. Leading the way were decathlete Patrick Arbour and sprinters Oluwasegun Makinde and Michael Robertson who combined to produce three Canadian leading marks and four personal bests.
Arbour kicked things off in the shot put with a sixth round throw of 15.11m, adding 45cm to the Dome record he set in December and producing his first ever throw over 15m. Arbour would follow that lifetime best performance with another in the pole vault as he cleared 4.46m for a share of the victory with Olivier Gauthier-Kwan.
On the track, Oluwasegun Makinde was in great early season form, producing two personal bests en route to winning the 60m hurdles in a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) leading time of 8.18 seconds. Makinde was also victorious in the flat 60m, winning in a time of 6.85 seconds.
Finishing third behind Makinde in the 60m was Michael Robertson in 6.96 seconds. The effort proved to be just a warm up last year’s University of Ottawa athlete of the year, as he followed that performance up with a speedy 33.40 second effort to win the 300m. Robertson’s time currently ranks as the top performance in Canada.
To wrap up the meet, Robertson teamed up with Oluwasegun Makinde, Toluwalope Makinde and Gabriel Tesfaye to produce a Canadian leading time in the 4x200m. The quartet, representing the University of Ottawa, won handily in a  time of 1:25.91.
Other notable performances included Charifa Labarang running a personal best 7.69 seconds in the 60m heats. The performance would stand as a new Dome junior record for just a short period as Amelia Brohman of C.A.N.I. sped down the track in 7.67 seconds to take the win in the final. In the field, heptathlete Karla Shepard won the women’s high jump with a leap of 1.66m. The performance moves her to seventh on the club’s all-time performance list.
The Lions will return to action next Saturday as they head south to Canton, New York to take part in the St. Lawrence University Invitational.

The Ottawa Lions will hope to kick off 2013 with a bang as the Super Saturday Series reconvenes tomorrow at The Dome @ Louis-Riel. The event kicks off with the 3000m timed finals at 11:30am, where 800m runner Emma Galbraith will give the longer distance a go. Field events will commence at noon with the shot put where Dome record holder Patrick Arbour will look to improve on his standard.
 
The sprint events should be sizzling with 2012 Olympian, Oluwasegun Makinde, and 2011 Panamerican Games finalist, Michael Robertson each making their season’s debut. Makinde, who was an alternate on the Canadian men’s 4x100m relay team in London this summer, will contest the 60m as well as the 60m hurdles, an event he has not run since the CIS finals in 2010. Meanwhile, Robertson will compete in the 300m, where he holds the Dome record of 33.21, and also join Makinde in the 60m sprint. The pair will be joined by Makinde’s younger brother Tolu, and hurdler Gabriel Tesfaye as they represent the University of Ottawa Gee Gees in the 4x200m relay.
 
Another match up to keep an eye out for on Saturday will be the junior women’s 150m. Training partners Charifa Labarang and Victoria McIntyre will both contest the 60m as a warm-up before making a run at national team member Kimberly Hyacinthe’s junior 150m Dome record of 18.32. In the first Super Saturday Series Meet of the season, Labarang just missed the mark with a time of 18.35, while McIntyre is coming off a record setting performance of 39.93 seconds in the 300m.
 
Participants are encouraged to arrive early, as meet registration will run from 10am-12pm. Please note that registration for the both the 60m and 3000m will close at 11am.
For more information on the meet, please click here.
To get you motivated for Saturday
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAMkSJ-M24Y]

The Ottawa Lions will host their Annual General Meeting on the evening of Thursday, January 24, 2013 at 7:30pm. The meeting will take place at École Secondaire Louis-Riel. All members are invited to attend.
Details
Annual General Meeting
École Secondaire Louis-Riel
1655 Bearbrook CH, Gloucester, ON
7:30pm
January 24, 2013
Agenda
Note: The location of the exact room will follow.

Athletics Canada announced its annual award winners today in Ottawa, where Jason Dunkerley and his guide Josh Karanja were named Outstanding Para-Athlete of the Year in Ambulatory Events. Jason and Josh brought home an impressive two medals and two Canadian records from the 2012 Paralympic Games. They won silver in the T11 5000m and a bronze in the 1500m event.
Dunkerley and Karanja will receive their award at the 2013 Canadian Championships being held in Moncton, New Brunswick June 20-23.

It may have been cold outside, but the performances on the track and in the field were heating up yesterday at the Super Saturday Series Meet #1 being held at the Dome @ Louis-Riel. In the Ottawa Lions final meet heading into the holiday season, Victoria McIntyre, Erinn Stenman-Fahey, Emma Galbraith, Adam Richardson and Justin Cuddihey made good use of their last opportunities to set age class records at the Dome, while Patrick Arbour broke the open men’s shot put record.
McIntyre, who set a meet record over 300m just two weeks ago at St. Lawrence University, dropped her personal best by  nearly eight tenths of a second, crossing the line in 39.93 seconds. While she only had an eye on breaking Fiona Callendar’s youth record of 40.45, her effort also eclipsed Christiane Lela’s junior record of 40.09 set in 2007.
In the women’s 1000m, midget runner, Erinn Stenman-Fahey edged out teammate Claire Smith to take the victory and set a new midget record of 2:56.49, while Smith finished in 2:57.60. In fact, both runners came in under the former record of 2:59.55 held by Alanna Shearman. Stenman-Fahey broke the midget 300m record as well. On the men’s side, youth also reigned supreme as 16 year old Lucas Trapeau edged out Jeff Mountjoy of Queen’s University to win in 2:33.05 while 15 year old Justin Cuddihey ran 2:44.82 to break Trapeau’s midget record.
Over 1500m, Alex Behre produced an excellent early season result, edging out former Queen’s University runner Michael Nishiyama to win in 3:55.70. In third place was 17 year old Adam Richardson who’s time of 3:56.50 took 35 one hundreds of a second of the previous record held by Adam Palamar. The women’s side featured a duel between junior Emma Galbraith and former University of Ottawa Gee-Gee Jen Perreault, who was making her debut in the event. The two women were never more than a couple feet from each other the entire race, but in the homestretch, Galbraith would outsprint Perreault to win in a record 4:28.56. Perreault crossed the line in 4:28.84. Another excellent result from the women’s 1500m came from youth runner Olivia Robertson who took eight seconds off her PB to finish in 4:34.29.
Decathlete Patrick Arbour demonstrated his versatility Saturday with his victories in the men’s 60m hurdles and the shot put. Arbour, who has been working on his running technique of late saw the fruits of his labour with a speedy time of 8.48 seconds in the hurdles, a 0.03 second improvement on his personal best. In the field, the former thrower produced one of the best series of his life, with his shortest throw measuring 14.24m. He would win with a record setting toss of 14.67m.
Other performances of note Saturday included University of Ottawa freshman Nelson Cecereu’s victory in the men’s pole vault with a PB and school record clearance of 4.36m. Also, in the women’s 150m, high school senior Charifa Labarang just missed out on national team member Kimberley Hyacinthe’s youth record with a time of 18.35 seconds. However, she did beat he next closest competitor by nearly a second.
The Lions return to action Saturday, January 12th as they host Super Saturday Series Meet #2 at the Dome @ Louis-Riel.

When Athletics Canada announced its nominees for their list of annual awards yesterday, a record three Ottawa Lions members were recognized for very successful 2012 seasons. Jason Dunkerley, with guide Josh Karanja, and Josh Cassidy were both nominated for Outstanding Para-Athlete of the Year Award in the ambulatory and wheelchair categories respectively. Sekou Kaba, who received his Canadian citizenship earlier this year, was nominated for the Dr. Fred Tees Memorial Trophy as the most outstanding athlete in a Canadian university.
 
Dunkerley, who teamed up with Karanja in 2011, had arguably his best season ever on the track culminating in two medals at the Paralympics in London. On the  road to bronze in the T11 1500m and silver in the 5000m, Dunkerley produced lifetime bests in both events including a Canadian record 4:07.56 in the 15000m. In addition to Dunkerley’s international success, he and Karanja also captured gold at the Canadian Championships in both events. Dunkerley and Karanja were nominated along with sprinters Braedon Dolfo and Virginia McLachlan.
 
For Josh Cassidy, 2012 was a very busy year as the wheelchair racer contested events from 800m all the way up to the marathon. It was the marathon where Cassidy great deal of notoriety early this year as he captured the historic Boston Marathon in a world record time of 1:18:25. From there Cassidy would go on to claim a trio of gold medals at the national championships in Calgary, sweeping the T54 800m, 1500m and 5000m events. In London, Cassidy’s best result would come in the 800m with a 5th place finish. He also finished 10th and 12th in the 1500m and marathon respectively. Josh will be in tough as he is nominated alongside Paralympic champion and world record holder Michelle Stillwell and triple medalist from London, Brent Lakatos.
 
For hurdler Sekou Kaba, 2012 proved to be a breakout season. It all began with the indoor season as Kaba asserted himself as one of Canada’s top sprint hurdlers by winning the CIS Championships in March with a nation leading time of 7.92 seconds. Sekou would continue to improve outdoors as he would drop more 0.2 seconds from his personal best, finishing second at the Canadian Championships with a time of 13.79 seconds. Kaba’s success at nationals would take him to Guanajuato, Mexico for his first national team appointment and he would not disappoint, placing fifth in a strong field. Sekou faces some stiff competition for the Dr. Fred Tees Memorial Trophy as he goes up against Olympic semi-finalist Sarah Wells of Toronto and national junior record setting race walker, Ben Thorne of Vancouver.
 
Athletics Canada will announce the awards winners next Wednesday, December 19th and the recipients will be honoured at the 2013 Canadian Championships in Moncton, New Brunswick.

The Lions will start another year of one of the largest meet hosting schedules in Canada next Saturday as the Super Saturday Meet Series kicks off for the eighth straight year. This year’s Super Saturday Series will feature three meets commencing on December 15 with future dates of January 12, and March 2.
Next Saturday’s meet will commence at 12pm on the track and 12:30pm in the field with a special Youth Quadrathlon running from 9am-11am for children aged 6-12. The Youth Quadrathlon will consist of the shot put, long jump, 60m and 800m.
Events taking place on December 15th include:
60m
60m Hurdles
150m
300m
600m
1000m
1500m
4x200m relay
4x400m relay
Long Jump
Triple Jump
High Jump
Pole Vault
Shot Put
Weight Throw
For more information on the Super Saturday Series and meet registration, please click here.

It was a productive day on the track in Canton, New York yesterday, as the Ottawa Lions ventured down to St. Lawrence University to kick off the indoor season. It total, Lions athletes won 14 individual events and set four new meet records.
Mohammed Soulieman kicked things off in the mile by edging out teammate Remy Binns to take the race in 4:22.63. Binns finished in 4:23.77. Soulieman, who is known more for the 800m, shaved nearly eight seconds off the previous record.
Next to take down a meet record was Victoria McIntyre, who won the women’s 300m by more than a second, in 40.63. The performance was also a new personal best for the Ashbury Collegiate senior, who’s previous best was a 40.87 second effort at the Dome @ Louis-Riel in February. McIntyre also attempted the long jump for the first time yesterday, finishing third with a best jump of 4.80m. She would cap off the day by splitting 24.8 seconds in the 4x200m relay and helping her team to a second place finish.
Rounding out record breaking performances on the track, Garrett de Jong took more than 16 seconds off the previous meet best in the 3000m, crossing the line in 8:52.72
While not setting any new records, Charifa Labarang came about as close as possible to doing so in the 60m. In fact, the sprinter won both her heat and the final in equal times of 7.79 seconds, just 0.01 seconds off the meet record set by training partner Shelani Fernando at last year’s meet.
Pole vaulter Melinda Rock was the only field event athlete to set a meet record as she cleared 3.30m, adding 10cm to her own record set last year. Training partner Kim-Quyen Vuong was second in the event with a 2.75m clearance.
Other athletes to post victories Saturday included:
Charlotte Gardner, 500m, 1:18.97
Emma Galbraith, 1000m, 2:56.08
Devyani Biswal, 60m hurdles, 8.97 PB
Hannah-Kelsey Smith, Long Jump, 5.00m
Tolu Makinde, 300m, 35.80
Gord Frenke, 500m, 1:05.62
Sekou Kaba, 60m hurdles, 8.41
Ahmed Al-Slaq, Triple Jump, 13.12m
The Ottawa Lions will return to the track Saturday, December 15^th as they host the 1^st Super Saturday Meet at the Dome @ Louis-Riel

It was a true evening of excellence Saturday night at the Arrow and Loon Courtyard as nearly 200 memebers of the Ottawa Lions family gathered to celebrate two years of excellence at their Awards Banquet. In total, more than 65 individuals were honoured for their success on the track or their dedicated service to the club. Three of the big winners on the night included hammer thrower Sultana Frizell, runner Jason Dunkerley and decathlete Patrick Arbour, who were each recognized three times for their performances.
 
Over the past two years, Frizell has continued to excel in the hammer throw, first by winning silver at the 2011 Pan American Games and followed that up in 2012 with a North American Record of 75.04m and her second Olympic Performance. For her efforts, Sultana was named the Most Outstanding Field Event Performer for females for both 2011 and 2012, improving her career total to eight awards and one away from Ann Peel’s club record of nine. Frizell was also presented with a President’s Award, instituted in 1990 to honour athletes and coaches who have represented their country on a national team in international competition.
 
For his success on the track over 1500m and 5000m, Jason Dunkerley was awarded the Sam Estwick Memorial Award, honouring the club’s Most Outstanding Para Athlete, for both 2011 and 2012 . Like Frizell, this brought his total to eight outstanding athlete awards for his career. In 2011, Dunkerley claimed silver and bronze in the 1500m and 5000m respectively and the flipped the results in September at the Paralympics in London, running national records in both events. Adding to his international medal tally, Jason also picked up gold in the 800m at the 2011 IPC World Championships  in Christchurch, New Zealand.
 
Over the past four years, Patrick Arbour has positioned himself as one of the top field event athletes in club history.  He was recognized for his efforts on Saturday evening as he was named the most outstanding male the field events for both 2011 and 2012. This brought Patrick’s string of victories to four. The former thrower turned decathlete experienced a great amount of success over the past two seasons, highlighted by three national team appointments, including a Pan Am Combined Events Cup team title in 2012. In addition to his success in the decathlon, Arbour produced two all time top ten performances in 2012 in both the discus and pole vault, where he currently sits fifth and sixth respectively.  Currently, he is also ranked in the top ten in the shot put and javelin, making him the only male to be ranked in more than two field events.
A complete list of award winners is included below:
Most Outstanding Male Athletes

Most Outstanding Female Athletes

The Denis Landry Memorial Award – Most Outstanding Athlete: uOttawa X-Country / Track & Field

Most Outstanding Junior Athlete (Under 20)

Most Outstanding Youth Athlete (Under 18)

Most Outstanding Midget Athlete (Under 16)

Most Outstanding Bantam Athlete (Under 14)

The Sam Estwick Memorial Award : Most Outstanding Para Athlete

Most Outstanding Masters’ Athlete (35 and over)

Most Outstanding Athlete: Road Racer

Most Outstanding Athlete: Combined Events

Sean Cole Memorial Award: Dedication to club service

President’s Award Winners

The Ottawa Lions are proud to announce they will host the largest awards banquet in the club’s 39 year history tomorrow evening at the Arrow and Loon Indoor Courtyard in the heart of the Glebe. Nearly 200 guests are expected to turn out as the club recognizes the many accomplishments of the past two seasons. Highlighting those accomplishments is certainly the club’s largest participation at this past summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in London. At least four of our outstanding athletes who competed in London are expected to be in attendance Saturday evening. Many of them will be in the running to pick up some of the nearly 40 awards that will be handed out.
 
Tickets are currently still available, and may be purchased at the door.
 
Details:
2012 Ottawa Lions Awards Banquet
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Reception: 5:30pm / Dinner and Awards 7:00pm
Arrow and Loon Indoor Courtyard
99 Fifth Avenue
Tickets: $20
Free Parking available on site. Accessible from Fourth Avenue.
 
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