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Samuel smashes personal best; wins at Auburn

by InternationallinkinbioUniversity

They say good things come to those wait. For Sharelle Samuel the wait had been nearly five years in the making, but after a new personal best at the War Eagle Invitational in Auburn, Alabama on Saturday it was definitely worth it. The Harvard University senior took top spot in the 400 metre hurdles in a time of 58.23 seconds. Samuel’s previous best in the event came back in July of 2017 when she ran to a silver medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 59.59 seconds.

In addition to a new personal best, Sharelle’s performance on Saturday also moved her to third on the Club’s all-time list behind former Canadian team members Rosey Edeh and Isabelle Gervais. Furthermore, the economics student is currently ranked 27th in the NCAA and 13th in the East Region. The top 24 athletes in the East Region will qualify for the NCAA East Preliminaries the last weekend of May in Indiana.

Saturday’s victory also extended Samuel’s winning streak in the 400 metre hurdles to four, as she remains undefeated in the event this season.

Samuel also placed sixth in the flat 400 on Saturday, running a collegiate best time of 54.50 seconds.

In Colorado, Lauren Gale made her return to the track after nearly a month away from competition following her appearance at the World Indoor Championships. Despite temperatures hovering around 6 degrees centigrade, the Colorado State senior easily won her 400 metre event on her home track at the Doug Max Invitational in a time of 52.84 seconds – more than two seconds ahead of second place.

Elsewhere in NCAA competition, Tommy Nedow took second place in the discus with a throw of 52.64 metres at a home meet for Southeastern Louisiana University. Nedow was also fourth in the shot put with a best of 15.16 metres. At the Mt. Sac Relays in California, Keira Christie-Galloway placed 16th in the 100 metre hurdles with a time of 13.69 seconds.

Finishing off the long weekend was Josh Cassidy as he rolled to a seventh place finish in Monday’s Boston Marathon. The former Boston champion covered the 26.2 mile course, which winds from the suburb of Hopkinton to famed Boylston Street, in 1 hour, 35 minutes and 2 seconds. Cassidy, who failed to finish Saturday’s 5km event after an issue with his chair, was consistent in his racing Monday – sitting in third through fifth position most of the race. In a post race Instagram story Cassidy likened the final mile to hitting a wall where he was passed by Ireland’s Patrick Monahan and Spain’s Raphael Botello Jimenez – finishing 24 seconds behind the pair.

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Gale takes down another Canadian record

by InternationallinkinbioUniversity

For the fourth meet in a row Lauren Gale has broken a Canadian record; however this time she had a little help. Running lead off on the 4×400 metre relay entry at last weekend’s World Indoor Championships, Gale helped Team Canada to a time of 3 minutes and 31.45 seconds as they placed fourth in their heat in the Serbian capital of Belgrade.

Despite the new Canadian indoor record, the team of Gale, Kyra Constantine, Natassha McDonald, and Sage Watson failed to advance to the final. The previous record of 3:36.03 had been set 22 years prior in Glasgow.

Gale now holds Canadian indoor records at 200 and 400 metres as well as the relay.

Closer to home, the outdoor season was kicking into full swing with a trio of Lions in action for their respective NCAA schools.

Competing at a dual meet in Mobile, Alabama, Tommy Nedow took top spot in the shot put, discus, and hammer throw. The Southeastern Louisiana student won his speciality, the discus, by an impressive five metres as his best throw on the day measured out at 52.35 metres. His winning throws in the shot put and hammer throw measured 16.39 and 51.41 metres respectively.

On home turf in Tempe, Arizona State University runner Keira Christie Galloway placed fifth in the 100 metre hurdles at the Baldy Castillo Invitational. The 22 year old’s time of 13.43 seconds currently ranks as the fourth fastest in the PAC-12 conference.

In Houston, Sharelle Samuel opened her season with victory at the Houston Spring Break Invitational. The Harvard senior took top spot in the 400 metre hurdles with a time of 1:01.64 – nearly three seconds clear of second place.

Louise Stonham Myrtle Beach

Lions start season on right foot in Myrtle Beach

by High SchoolInternationallinkinbio

After a week of putting in work under the bright South Carolina sun, the small contingent of Lions high school athletes attending training camp in Myrtle Beach had the opportunity to put a marker out and see where they were in their training. The results were promising with the Lions posting eight top ten finishes, including a victory by Louise Stonham in the 3000m steeplechase.

Stonham laid on the gas from the gun and ran right to the front of the pack. By the end of the fourth lap, the Arnprior District High School student had opened the gap on the field to two seconds. As Stonham hit the bell, her lead had grown to nearly eight seconds and she would close in her second fastest lap of the day to stop the clock in 11 minutes and 50.87 seconds.

Racing against a field of university students, Stonham appeared unfazed in her debut at the longer steeplechase distance. The 2021 Ontario U18 2000 metre steeplechase champion’s winning time now moves her to eighth in Club history for the event.

A second medal performance came from Maddie Seaby who took the silver over 3000 metres in a time of 10 minutes and 7.95 seconds. Running second the whole race, the grade 12 student found herself six seconds back of Colgate University senior Sophia Manners with two laps to go. However, the Carleton Place District High School student kicked her way home, closing in 2:38.05 to narrow the gap to just three seconds. Seaby’s time is the 12th fastest in Club history at the U18 level.

Falling just short of the podium were Olivia Baggley and Cora McQuinn who each placed fourth in their respective events. Baggley set a new lifetime best at 5,000 metres with an 18:27.74 clocking while McQuinn dropped more than half a second off her 400 metre best with her 57.91 performance.

Other individual top ten performances came from Amelia Van Brabant and Audrey Goddard. In the mile, Van Brabant placed fifth with a 5:10.43 performance while Goddard ran 15.30 for the 100 metre hurdles to place tenth.

Both women featured on relay teams which also placed well. Goddard ran lead off on the 4×200 metre relay with Tatiana Pender, Allison Dewar, and Cora McQuinn as the quartet placed seventh in 1:47.74. Van Brabant ran anchor on the 4×800 metre squad with Maddie Seaby, Ella Lalonde, and Louise Stonham as the ladies posted a time of 10:03.29 to finish sixth.

Full results from the meet are available on our website at https://ottawalions.com/results/2022-results

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Good luck to the Lions in Beijing

by Internationallinkinbio

With the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing this morning, the Ottawa Lions will be cheering extra hard for a quartet of familiar faces to the Club. The group includes bobsledders Cody Sorensen and Mike Evelyn, skeleton racer Mirela Rahneva, and curler Rachel Homan.

Beijing will mark the second Games for former hurdler Cody Sorensen, having competed eight years prior in Sochi. The 35-year old left the sport completely after the Games in Russia, and was working as director of mergers and acquisitions with Welch Capital Partners here in Ottawa before taking some time off this fall to return to the World Cup circuit as part of driver Chris Spring’s sled.

Prior to joining the Canadian bobsled team, Sorensen was an accomplished hurdler with the Club, winning multiple medals at the provincial and national level, including take home a  national university title in the 60 metre hurdles while studying at the University of Guelph.

Sorensen will be joined in Spring’s sled by Mike Evelyn, who is making his Olympic debut. Prior to finding bobsleigh via RBC’s Training Ground competition, Evelyn skated for the hockey team at Dalhousie University, where he earned his degree in electrical engineering. While hockey was his passion growing up, Evelyn was a member of the Club during the 2010 season where he was a provincial finalist in the discus at the under-18 level.

For skeleton racer Mirela Rahneva, this will be her second Games after finishing 12th fourth years ago in Korea. She is coming off a pair of top-5 finishes on the World Cup circuit, including a bronze at her most recent event in St. Moritz. Rahneva’s roots in sport came were formed in the Club. As an 11-year-old, she’d bike 10+ km each way from home near the Nepean Sportsplex to Terry Fox to attend our annual summer camp. According to meet results her focus at the time was in the middle distance events rather than her current specialty in the speed/power domain.

Rachel Homan’s is synonymous with the sport of curling, but few likely knew she interned with the Club during her fourth year of human kinetics studies at the University of Ottawa. Homan, who competed in the women’s curling competition in 2018, is paired up with fellow Ottawa native John Morris in the mixed doubles event this time around, which started play on Wednesday. The pair is already 3-1 in early round robin play and sits in a tie for second.

Also in Beijing is former sprinter/bobsledder Oluseyi Smith. While not competing on the field of play, Smith is competing for a spot on the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes Commission, which will be voted on by athletes throughout the Games.

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Nedow and Gale kick off 2022 season with NCAA victories

by InternationallinkinbioUniversity

The 2022 NCAA indoor season kicked off this weekend with a pair of Lions finding success on the track and in the field. Thrower Tommy Nedow and sprinter Lauren Gale were each victorious in their season debuts.

Nedow, competing for Southeastern Louisiana University, swept both of the throws at the Purple Tiger meet at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge on Friday. The fourth year athletic therapy student kicked off the competition with a new lifetime best of 16.57 metres in the weight throw. The distance was more than a full metre ahead of the second place finisher and added 69 centimetres to his previous best in the event. Nedow took an even more commanding victory in the shot put as he defended his Purple Tiger title from a year ago. His best throw of 16.26 metres outdistanced the competition by nearly three metres.

On the west coast, Olympian Lauren Gale kicked off her season in style with a new indoor personal best over 200 metres. Competing at the Potts Invitational on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, Gale dominated the seventh and final heat of the 200, winning easily in 23.52 seconds. The performance moved her to third on Colorado State University’s all-time list and equaled Canada’s number two all-time U23 performance. However, as the facility in Boulder is an oversized track (300m) the performance could not count for Canadian record purposes.

The NCAA season continues next weekend with Gale’s CSU Rams headed to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, while we may see hurdler Keira Christie-Galloway open her season for the Arizona State Sun Devils at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

OTTAWA, ON -- 05 July 2018: Josh Cassidy racing in the para wheelchair 1500m at the 2018 Athletics Canada National Track and Field Championships held at the Terry Fox Athletics Facility in Ottawa, Canada. (Photo by Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images).

Cassidy fourth at New York City Marathon

by InternationallinkinbioLocal

For Josh Cassidy, competing in last Saturday’s New York City Marathon just 27 days after placing fifth at the Boston Marathon would normally not be a newsworthy fact. He is after all, a man has regularly raced Boston on a Monday in April, hopped a plane and contested the London Marathon just six days later. However, nine days following Boston, Cassidy’s partner Laiken gave birth to son Henrik – leaving Cassidy without a full night’s sleep for three weeks heading into one of the more difficult marathon courses on the circuit.

Despite the lack of sleep, and time off training during that time, Cassidy pulled off his highest ever finish in New York, placing fourth in 1 hour 40 minutes and 38 seconds.

“Expectations low, motivation high, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go,” was how Cassidy described his mindset heading into the race. The focus was a top-6 finish to be in the prize money.

As he reached the 1-mile mark atop the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn, Cassidy had already settled into fourth, between two packs. The following 25 miles would become a game of cat and mouse with American Daniel Romanchuk for bronze.

Cassidy held a ten second advantage at the mid way point, but Romanchuk was able to overtake him by the 25 km mark. Cassidy would narrow the gap to two seconds at the 20 mile marker, before hitting a wall in the final kilometres to hold on to fourth.

“Pretty emotional at the end, after an exhausting few weeks, tough marathon, a lot to overcome mentally and physically,” wrote Cassidy on Instagram this week. “Super proud of this one, and great way to end the season.”

In a road race closer to home, Nic Roberts took home top spot in The Great Big Cookie Run 5km last Sunday. Roberts crossed the line in a time of 15 minutes and 57.0 seconds, to finish nine seconds up on second place.

On the women’s side, Club President Jennifer Dumoulin finished in 22:26.0 to place 18th.

Copyright Brian Rouble/Shuttered Moments

Cassidy fifth at Boston Marathon; XC competes in Sherbrooke

by InternationallinkinbioUniversity

The world’s oldest marathon race returned to the streets of Boston Monday morning with a familiar face near the top of the leader board. Canadian record holder Joshua Cassidy placed fifth with a time of 1:28:56 – his fastest marathon since the 2017 edition of Boston.

Traditionally held on Patriots Day, the third Monday in April, the 125th edition of the BAA Boston Marathon was pushed to the October date as a result of COVID restrictions following its cancellation in 2020.

Monday’s event almost didn’t happen for Cassidy, who almost pulled out of the event in September after losing two and a half weeks of training due to a sinus infection. Despite the break, the three time Paralympian held tight to the front of the pack throughout the race. Cassidy battled for third with South African Ernst Van Dyk all the way up Heartbreak Hill, a 600 metre ascent between the 32 and 34 kilometre marks. Continuing the battle towards the finish, Van Dyk narrowly pulled away, while Cassidy nipped at the line by American Aaron Pike, who finish one second ahead.

Cassidy, who is also awaiting the birth of his first child with partner Laiken appeared content with the result, writing on Instagram “not bad, needed a bit more quality training, but so happy to be out there, happy to be home again, and grateful for everyone with the Boston Marathon team.”

Back in Canada, a small collection of Lion, Gee-Gees, and Ravens took part in the the Vert et Or Invitation cross country race on the campus of the University of Sherbrooke on Sunday. Nico Pedersen was the winner of the open men’s eight kilometre race with a time of 25 minutes and 49.4 seconds. Nathan Meraw of the Gee-Gees was the top male in the university section, placing 43rd in 27:58.8. The top female honour went to Kylee Fowler, a first year student with the Gee-Gees, who placed 42nd in 34:02.3. Carleton’s Sophy Wood was the top Raven in 46th.

Complete results from the Vert et Or Invitation can be found on the FQA website.

(Ottawa, Canada---08 July 2017) Lauren Gale competing in the U20 400m final at the 2017 Canadian Track and Field Championships. (Photo by Sean W Burges / Mundo Sport Images).

Olympic Profile – Lauren Gale

by Internationallinkinbio

As we get set to enter Day 7 of competition at the Olympic Stadium we wanted to help introduce you to the third and final Lion competing this year in Tokyo – Lauren Gale.

At 21 years of age, Gale is the youngest member of the Canadian athletics team in Japan and is expected to run as part of Canada’s 4×400 metre relay team in Thursday morning’s heats.

The Colorado State University record holder set a lifetime best of 51.96 seconds over 400 metres at the NCAA West Regional back in May to qualify for Team Canada. The mark is the second fastest in Club history. Gale set the Club record over the 200 metres as well this year with her 23.15 second clocking at the Mountain West Conference Championships.

We had a chance to connect with Olympian Lauren Gale prior to the start of the Games and ask her a few questions to help you get to know her a little better.

Q: How did you get started in track and field?

Gale: I was always super speedy when I was playing soccer. I always got to the ball first. So we tried switching into running and it took off from there! It didn’t really start being competitive until I joined the Lions!

Q: Name your favourite place to compete.
Gale: My favourite place to compete was the Bahamas, who wouldn’t love it there! All the teams got to stay in the same hotel on different floors and it was a great environment, lots of fun!
Q: What drill or exercise do you enjoy the most?
Gale: I love doing band + block. It really helps me with my block starts and I am able to focus on form.
Q: If you could do any other event in track and field, which would you choose?
Gale: I would love to do long or triple jump. I think getting to be so explosive and landing in sand would be fun!
Q: What is your go to pre-competition meal?
Gale:  I usually have something protein filled with lots of veggies and fruit!
Q: What is in your warm-up playlist?
Gale: I usually go with rap.
Q: What are you binging on Netflix right now?
Gale: It’s always HGTV. I love the home renovation shows!
Q: What book are you reading/most recently read?
Gale: I have been reading my HDFS 350 (Applied Research Methods) textbook! I’m taking a summer class so that’s what has been taking up most of my time recently.
Q: What are you looking forward to the most about competing in your first Olympics?
Gale: I think just getting to take in the atmosphere even though it might be a little different this year. Getting to be surrounded by and competing against amazing athletes will be a great experience. Getting to see the Athlete village with the Olympic Rings everywhere is gonna be awesome too!

The women’s 4×400 metre heats are scheduled for 6:25 am EDT Thursday morning. Canada will run in the second of two heats. The top three plus the next two fastest times will qualify to Saturday’s final.

For more information on Tokyo 2020 and links to results and the live stream, check out our Tokyo Olympic Hub.

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Lions Olympic History

by Internationallinkinbio

As the torch inside Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium was lit Friday night, the latest set of Lions athletes to compete in the Olympic Games watched together with their track and field teammates at their pre-competition camp in Gifu, about 275 kilometres west of Tokyo.

The trio is comprised of Olympic veterans Melissa Bishop-Nriagu and Tim Nedow, as well as Olympic rookie Lauren Gale. The 21-year-old Gale becomes the 16th Lion to compete at the Olympics, following in the footsteps of Team Canada Head Coach Glenroy Gilbert who made his debut back at the 1988 Games in Seoul.

Gilbert was part of the original class of Lions Olympians back in Seoul when he competed in the long jump (7.61m – 22nd). He was joined in the South Korean capital by fellow Lions Hall of Famer and high jumper Brian Marshall (2.22m – 19th) as well as 10,000 metre runner John Halvorsen (28:29.21 – 16th), who competed for his native Norway. Four years later, Halvorsen (29:53.91 – 19th) would again join Gilbert (4x100m – DNF) in Barcelona.

At the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Gilbert would live out the Olympic dream of claiming gold as part of Canada’s 4×100 metre relay team (37.69 NR – 1st). If you’re wondering, we do indeed love “Saturday nights in Georgia”. Glenroy also placed 22nd in the 100m with a time of 10.28 seconds. He was not alone at these Games as he was joined by Lions record holders Steve Agar (3:43.02 – 37th) in the 1500 metres and Lesley Tashlin in the 100 metre hurdles (13.61 – 37th) and 4x100m relay (44.34 – 14th). Agar, also a member of the Lions Hall of Fame, was representing his native Dominica.

Gilbert’s final Games as an athlete was as a member of the 4×100 metre relay (38.92 – 11th) team in Sydney, while Hall of Famer Sean Kaley made his only Olympic appearance, running the 10,000 metres (28:36.07 – 39th).

At the 2004 Games in Athens, Richard Adu-Bobie was named to his first Olympic team after setting the Canadian U20 record for 100 metres at the Trials. He would serve as an alternate for the 4×100 metre relay team that placed 7th overall.

Adu-Bobie would again serve as an alternate on the relay squad at the 2008 Games in Beijing that would go on to place fifth. Adu-Bobie was joined in the Chinese capital by first time Olympian, Sultana Frizell in the hammer throw (65.44m – 33rd)

The London Games of 2012 featured a record five Lions, with Sultana Frizell returning in the hammer throw (67.45m – 22nd). Melissa Bishop-Nriagu made her debut at 800 metres (2:09.33 – 28tth) while Oluseyi Smith ran the second leg on Canada’s 4×100 metre relay team that crossed the finish line in third but was ultimately disqualified for a lane violation. Oluwasegun Makinde served as an alternate for the 4x100m relay team. Rounding out the contingent was Delphine Atangana, who contested the 100 metres (11.82 – 48th) for her native Cameroon.

The 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro equalled London for the largest contingent of Lions with five athletes. Melissa Bishop-Nriagu was 4th at 800 metres in a national record 1:57.02. A pair of Club record holders made their debut, Sekou Kaba in the 110 metre hurdles (13.70 – 28th) and Tim Nedow in the shot put (20.00m – 16th). Farah Jacques led off Canada’s 4×100 metre relay team (43.15 – 6th) and Oluwasegun Makinde was again an alternate on the men’s 4×100 relay team that would win bronze.

We look forward to the new Olympic memories this year’s trio will bring. Melissa Bishop-Nriagu kicks off the competition with heats of the 800 metres on the opening day of competition. Heats of the women’s 800 are schedule for 8:55pm eastern on July 29th. Tim Nedow will compete in shot put qualifying on August 3rd at 6:15 am eastern, while Lauren Gale and the women’s 4×400 metre relay team run in the heats on August 5th at 6:25 am eastern.

The Lions would also like to congratulate Club record holder Mike Woods on his fifth place finish in the cycling road race and wish best of luck to former Club members Alicia Brown (women’s 4x400m) and Alejandro Perlaza (400m and 4x400m) competing for his native Colombia.