The Ottawa Lions will host their Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the evening of Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 6:00pm. The meeting will take place at École Secondaire Louis-Riel in a room to be determined. All members are invited to attend.
A short meeting of the new Board of Directors will follow the AGM. Details
Annual General Meeting
École Secondaire Louis-Riel
1655 Bearbrook CH, Gloucester, ON
6:00pm
February 28, 2018
Room #1 Agenda Previous AGM Minutes 2016-17 DRAFT Audited Financial Statements
It was a dominating performance by the Lionesses of Ottawa as they brought home more than two thirds of the medals from last weekend’s Bomber Invitational at Ithaca College. The 14 medal haul included 8 gold and nearly three medal sweeps.
One of the near sweeps occurred in the women’s 1000m where University of Ottawa freshman Maeliss Trapeau was victorious in a time of 2:59.31. Teammate Rebecca Brennan finished second, five seconds behind. Olivia Sidock and Holly Hicks were edged off the podium by St. Lawrence University runner, Mary Terhune.
A strong stable of female hurdlers almost rode off with all the medals in the 60m event. National finalist Devyani Biswal broke her own fieldhouse record to take gold in 8.53 seconds. Reigning USports bronze medalist Tania Bambi was second in 8.72 seconds, while Farah Jacques placed fourth in 8.82 seconds.
Jacques did manage a podium finish in her 60m speciality though, grabbing gold in 7.59 seconds while teammate Stephanie Gould was third in 7.83.
The final near sweep came in the women’s 500m where Madison Clarke, Sophia Skorenky and Mary Ollier went 1-2-4. While Clarke won the event in a personal best 1:14.92, all three ladies performances now rank among the top 10 in club history.
Another impressive performance came from high school senior Sharelle Samuel who picked up two medals on the day. After a silver medal finish in the 200m, Samuel laid down a fast time of 56.94 seconds in the 400m to win the event by more than three seconds.
The University of Ottawa women also swept both the 4x200m and 4x400m relays, with the Gee Gees B Team also managing to make it on the podium for bronze.
On the men’s side, Saj Alhaddad (1:05.19) posted a lifetime best over 500m to claim gold while Kevin M’Pindu finished second in 1:07.98.
Also winning their event was Stephen Evans who was first across the line in the 800m, stopping the clock at 1:53.67. Lucas Zanetti finished second in the mile event.
Elsewhere, shotputter Tim Nedow continued to show he is rounding into form ahead of this spring’s Commonwealth Games. The Brockville native unleashed a massive heave of 20.82m to comfortably win the York Open in Toronto. Nedow’s mark currently ranks him seventh in the world.
As the indoor season rounds into full swing Lions athletes are showing the hours of hard work last fall are paying off with no less than seven all-time top ten club performances taking place last weekend.
The bulk of the performances came from New York City where a small but talented group were competing in the Dr. Sander Invitational at the famous Armory. University of Ottawa freshman hurdler Keira Christie-Galloway sped to her second personal best in a matter of weeks, posting a 8.41 second clocking in the 60m hurdle event to take second. also in the final were teammates Devyani Biswal (8.43 – 4th) and Tania Bambi (8.76 – 8th)
Also on the infield straightaway, sprinter Lionel Muteba cracked the all-time 60m list with a 6.81 second performance to take victory. Muteba is now in a three way tie for seventh best in club history with Alamou Souhalia and Moussa Sissoko.
As always, New York presented the opportunity to compete in the seldom run in Canada, 500m event with no less than three Lions joining the best in club history. Coming off a lifetime best performance the week before over 600m, Stephen Evans placed 7th in the event with a time of 1:04.64 to move into 4th all-time. On the women’s side, Sophia Skorenky improved her position, jumping from seventh to sixth with her 1:15.28 clocking and Mary Ollier sneaking into tenth position with a time of 1:17.55.
Further south, at the Razorback Invite in Fayetville, Arkansas Erinn Stenman-Fahey posted a new lifetime best performance over 800m, running 2:06.33 to finish seventh. The performance now ranks the Iowa State junior 14th among NCAA Division 1 runners and comes just a week after she ran a personal best 4:49.63 to move into 6th on the club’s all-time list in the mile.
Also moving up the all-time list was Thomas Nedow as he hurled the 35 pound weight out to 14.83m for the third best performance in club history. The University of Guelph freshman has done well in his rookie season with the senior implements as he has also fifth among the shot putters.
The top of the shot put list still belongs to Thomas’ older brother Tim who was victorious Saturday at the Findlay Elite Throws competition in Ohio. Tim’s best heave of 20.37m was nearly two and a half meters better than his nearest competitor and would appear to show he is rounding in to shape for another run at the Commonwealth Games podium in April.
To see the all-time list check out our awards and records page.
From the Windsor Star
Melissa Bishop has literally lived life on the run for more than a decade, but the Canadian record-holder in the 800-metres will be spending this summer changing diapers instead of lanes on the track.
Bishop and her husband Osi Nriagu took to Twitter Friday to announce they were expecting their first child in June. The couple, who met when both were members of the University of Windsor track team, were married last October.
“It was definitely a welcome surprise,” said the 29-year-old Bishop. “We found out just after Christmas.
“There were a lot of tears of joy. There was a lot of shock.
“It was such a precious moment.”
Continue reading here.
Oluseyi Smith told the Ottawa Sports Page last fall his goal on the track was Olympic or World Championships medals. The former Lion sprinter briefly realized that goal six years ago during the London 2012 4 x 100m relay before it was so infamously stripped away due to a lane violation.
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Today, the 30 year old Smith was given another shot at Olympic glory as he was named to Team Canada for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeonchang, South Korea where he is expected to compete in the four man bobsleigh event.
After failing to make the Rio Olympics, Smith stepped away from the track, focusing on his career as an electrical engineer with AltaLink in Calgary, his training base for the final three years of his track career. When his coach there suggested giving bobsleigh a go, he was all in.
While Smith’s track speed is desired in the world of bobsleigh, he was quick to admit, “pushing a sled is very, very different from running,” when he spoke with OSP back in November. Nonetheless, the Brookfield High School graduate has contributed immensely to driver Justin Kripps team this season, helping push them to two World Cup podium finishes.
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Smith will become the sixth Lion to represent Canada at the Winter Olympics in the sport of bobsleigh, the most recent being former hurdler Cody Sorenson who competed four years ago in Sochi. Smith also become the second dual sport Olympian, following in Glenroy Gilbert’s footsteps – his former coach.
The first two runs of the four man competition are scheduled to take place February 24th at 9:30am local time (7:30pm February 23rd in Ottawa).
When Sebastian Saville crossed the line to win the 600m at Saturday’s uOttawa Winter National Invitational, he knew his time of 1:17.45 was something special. The fourth year psychology student from Carleton University knew right away he had set a new Louis Riel Dome record – he had finished three quarters of second behind the University of Toronto’s Sacha Smart when he set the then standard of 1:18.01 two years prior.
However, for Saville the records didn’t end there as his stellar performance bested one of the club’s oldest records – Richard Brant’s 600m time of 1:18.02 set almost 30 years ago to the date. Seb, who was also a national finalist over 800m last summer, attributes his recent success to consistent training and health balance in life. “I’ve found a good spot with my network. Ray Elrick has been instrumental with his coaching, my parents are extremely supportive and my work and school have been flexible with their asks as well.”
In addition to the record performance over 600m, Saville also took down the Dome record for 800m on Friday night with a time of 1:51.59 – nearly a full second ahead of the previous standard. Oddly enough, the record performance would go unnoticed by the speedy Saville until a half hour after Saturday’s performance. “I had honestly thought the 800m record was a bit faster,” he joked.
Also at Saturday’s meet, University of Ottawa freshman Keira Christie-Galloway equaled her lifetime best with an 8.53 second clocking in the 60m hurdles prelims before winning the final comfortably in 8.62 seconds. Her performance from the prelims currently puts her second in the Canadian University rankings.
South of the border, hurdler Ashlea Maddex lowered her seasonal best to 8.40 seconds en route to winning a competition in Nampa, Idaho. A freshman at Cal State Los Angeles, Maddex is currently in a tie for the number one performance in the NCAA Division 2 rankings.
Next on the calendar for the Lions is next weekend’s McGill Team Challenge in Montreal and the Dr. Sander Invitational and Columbia Challenge in New York City.
The podium finishes came fast and furious as the Lions opened the new year at competitions across Ontario, Quebec and New York. In total, 25 podium finishes were produced – including nine gold medal performances.
The Can-Am Classic at the University of Windsor produced four medal performances from throwers Thomas Nedow and Leanna Garcia. Nedow was victorious Friday night in the men’s shot put competition with a number five all-time performance of 15.68m and followed it up Saturday with another personal best in the weight throw, 14.35m, to finish third. Garcia produced a gold medal performance in the weight throw with a 14.36m heave while also finishing second in the shot put.
Up the 401 in Toronto, Nedow’s older brother Tim opened his shot put season with a solid 19.84m heave to win at the Athletics Ontario Championship Series #1. Tim was recently named to the Commonwealth Games team where he will be looking to improve upon his bronze medal finish from four years ago.
The throws success continued in Quebec City at the Rouge et Or Invitational where Ty Coulter raised the University of Ottawa’s women’s weight throw record for the third consecutive meet with a heave of 15.58m to finish second. The mark currently ranks 7th in the USports ranking. Carleton Raven Dani Ferguson-Jamer finished in the bronze position with a best of 13.52m. Christina Hertner rounded out the throwing medals, claiming victory in the shot put with a 11.94m toss.
At the Great Dane Classic on Staten Island, Stephen Evans and Devyani Biswal each claimed victory. For Evans, it took a lifetime best of 2:27.06 to claim victoy in the 1000m while Biswal produced her fastest opener ever over 60m, 7.86 seconds, on her way to gold. Devyani would put out a similar effort as she finished 5th in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.53 seconds. Teammate Ashlea Maddex claimed silver in that race posting a speedy 8.44 second time.
The final medal from New York also came in the 1000m as Madison Clarke ran her way to a silver. Like Evans, Clarke’s time of 2:51.92 was a significant personal best as she erased nearly three seconds from her previous standard.
Other podium finishes from the weekend are as follows:
GOLD 600m – Marie-Eve Dahms 1:38.53
GOLD 4x200m – Carleton University Men 1:36.22
GOLD Pole Vault – Caroline Poirer 3.40m
SILVER 60mH – Nafthalia Lucien 9.55
SILVER 60mH – Tyler Dacosta 9.03
BRONZE 4x200m – Ottawa Lions Women 1:54.38
BRONZE 4x800m – University of Ottawa Women 10:04.40
BRONZE 4x200m – Ottawa Lions Men 1:37.45
BRONZE 4x800m – University of Ottawa Men 8:39.88
BRONZE 4x200m – University of Ottawa Men 1:37.45
BRONZE Triple Jump – Rinila Haridas 10.41m
BRONZE 60m – Emmanuel Nwokobia 7.10
Lions return to action this Saturday as they host the uOttawa Winter National Capital Invitational. Information can be found on our meet info page.
When Athletics Canada announced their 46 athlete Commonwealth Games team destined for Australia’s Gold Coast this week there were two familiar faces on the list. Throwers Tim Nedow and Sultana Frizell are heading back to the quadrennial event for the second and third time respectively.
Frizell is a seasoned Commonwealth Games competitor being the two time defending champion in specialty, the hammer throw. As well, the Perth native holds both the Games and Commonwealth record in the event. Looking to disrupt Frizell run at a three-peat will be England’s Sophie Hitchon, bronze medalist at the Rio Olympics.
For Nedow, he will be looking to improve upon his bronze medal performance from Glasgow where he finished behind Jamaica’s O’Dayne Richards and New Zealand’s Tom Walsh. With Richards finishing 2017 ranked 6th in the world and Walsh winning the World Championship, Nedow will be in for a battle.
World and Olympic finalist Melissa Bishop and 2010 Commonwealth Games medalist Joshua Cassidy had both qualified for the team, but turned down their invitation to compete.
Competition is set to begin down under on April 7th where Nedow will compete in shot put qualification. Frizell will follow on the 8th for her qualification round. Finals are then scheduled for 8th (Nedow) and 9th (Frizell).
Yesterday we broke down some of our highlights from 2017 and today we’re taking a look at some of the best performances from the best 12 months. We’ve converted the performances using the IAAF Points table using the following calculator.
There will be one noticeable absence from the list and that is Sultana Frizell’s Canadian record weight throw of 23.61m. Since the weight throw is not an IAAF event, it unfortunately does not have a corresponding point calculation. But for your own knowledge, the performance ranks Frizell 12th all-time in the world.
Now to the rankings. Athletes can only be on the list once per event, but performances across multiple events were counted.
Men:
Tim Nedow, Shot Put. 20.73m – 1164 points
Adam Palamar, Mile, 3:57.39(i) – 1164
Sekou Kaba, 110m Hurdles, 13.65 – 1130
Oluwasegun Makinde, 100m, 10.39 – 1076
Adam Palamar, 1500m, 3:42.70 – 1071
Sebastian Saville, 600m, 1:18.79(i) – 1063
Tim Nedow, Discus, 60.03m – 1061
Sebastian Saville, 800m, 1:48.88 – 1058
Owen Day, 1500m, 3:44.38 – 1048
Oluwasegun Makinde, 200m, 21.23 – 1034
Saj Alhaddad, 400m Hurdles, 52.14 – 1026
Segun Makinde, 60m, 6.86 – 1011
Adam Palamar, 800m, 1:52.53 – 1008
Telvin Tavernier, Heptathlon, 5267 – 983
Stephen Evans, 800m, 1:51.74 – 977
Scott Hancock, 60m Hurdles, 8.26 – 960
Sekou Kaba, 60m Hurdles, 8.28 – 954
Scott Hancock, Long Jump, 7.15 – 954
Stephen Evans, 600m, 1:20.04 – 953
Alejandro Perlaza, 300m, 34.47 – 945
Telvin Tavernier, Pole Vault, 4.82 – 945
Bertwin Ben-Smith, 300m, 35.18 – 938
Austin White, 400m Hurdles, 54.07 – 937
Remy Binns, 800m, 1:53.44 – 930
Scott Hancock, 110m Hurdles, 14.79 – 928
Women:
Melissa Bishop, 800m, 1:57.01 – 1207 points
Ashlea Maddex, 100m Hurdles, 13.16 – 1128
Melissa Bishop, 1500m, 4:10.30 – 1124
Devyani Biswal, 100m Hurdles, 13.51 – 1082
Farah Jacques, 200m, 23.69 – 1066
Sultana Frizell, Hammer Throw, 68.01 – 1061
Sharelle Samuel, 400m, 53.75 – 1059
Keira Christie-Galloway, 100m Hurdles, 13.73 – 1053
With just one day left in 2017, we thought it best to take one last look back at the year that was for the Ottawa Lions before switching our attention to the 2018.
Here are some of our top highlights from the past 12 months. Ottawa hosts the nation
It was arguably the biggest highlight for many in the Ottawa track community in 2017 – the Canadian Championships returned to the nation’s capital for the first time since 2006. Boy, were they ever treated to a show. Over 1400 athletes ran, jumped, threw and wheeled their way around the Terry Fox Athletic Facility over the course of seven days in July with approximately 18,500 people on hand to watch them compete.
The home town crowd seemed to help as Lion athletes captured a remarkable 25 medals, including 7 gold, in the junior, senior and para categories. Included among those was Melissa Bishop’s wire to wire win in the 800m and Tim Nedow’s shot put victory – both of which set new stadium records.
Bishop and Nedow’s performances were just two of the ten new Terry Fox Athletic Facility Records to fall during the Canadian Championships. Sultana Frizell begins assault on Canadian weight throw record
After breaking her own club record in the final meet of 2016, Frizell would go on to smash the Canadian record three times in 2017 beginning with her 22.00m heave at the St. Lawrence University Invite. She would improve the mark to 23.32m a month later in Toronto and out further to 23.61m a week after that in Indiana.
Adam Palamar runs fastest mile in NCAA
It may still have been early in the indoor season, but on January 27th at the Boston University Track and Field Centre posted an NCAA leading time in the mile with a spectacular 3:57.39 second clocking. Palamar, based on his 5th place finish, would receive All-American honours at the NCAA Championships in March. His early season clocking also was the second fastest in club history, just two one hundredths off the record. Glenroy Gilbert named top coach in Ottawa
Gilbert was recognized for the third time in four years as the Male Coach of the Year at the Ottawa Sport Awards in February. The award highlights his excellent work with local athletes Oluwasegun Makinde and Farah Jacques as well as the Canadian Relay Program.
In May, Gilbert was tapped as the Head Coach for Canada’s entry at the World Championships in London. The role was made permanent in July following the Canadian Championships. Lions athletes win five medals at USport Championships
It was the largest medal haul since 2013 with three athletes bringing home two gold, a silver and two bronze. Leading the contingent was Ashley Connell as she swept the shot put and weight throw with lifetime best performances. Her weight throw mark puts her second in club history while her shot put mark leaves her fourth all-time.
In the men’s heptathlon, Telvin Tavernier had the competition of his lifetime as he improved his personal best by nearly 200 points to claim silver. He would follow up the performance with another extraordinary effort in the pole vault where he raised his day old personal best from the heptathlon another 12 cm to claim bronze.
Tania Bambi rounded out the medal collection with a bronze in the 60m hurdles, narrowly edging out teammate Devyani Biswal. Wendy Alexis wins two silvers at World Indoor Masters
It’s not often you travel around the world to do battle with your rival from a few hours away. However, when you’re Wendy Alexis it seems to always be the case. The 61 year old sprinter battled it out with Karla Del Grande of Toronto for global sprint supremacy at the World Masters Championships in Daegu, South Korea this past March. Alas Alexis would have to settle for silver in both of the women’s over 60 60m and 200m events despite seasonal bests in both events. Divya Biswal jumps into record book
Some might think that working for a hedge fund on Wall Street and being a top level triple jumper don’t quite go hand in hand. But then again, they likely don’t know Divya Biswal. The bouncy Biswal was on a tear in 2017 beginning with one weekend in April where she would surpass the club’s 15 year old standard of 12.74m on back to back days. Divya would surpass the previous record a total of five times in 2017, highlighted by her club record of 13.27m set at the Ontario Championships. Lions regain Ontario Senior Championship
For the first time since 2013, the Ottawa Lions were crowned Ontario Senior Champions at the provincial event in June. On the strength of seven gold including winning three of the four relays, the Lions beat the University of Toronto Track Club by a score of 184 points to 169. One of the golds came from the 4x400m relay team of Lauren Gale, Erinn Stenman-Fahey, Madison Clarke and Sharelle Samuel who lowered the club record by nearly two seconds to 3:44.58. In addition to the gold medal haul, Lions athletes also took home six silver and three bronze.
Bishop breaks Canadian record… again
For the third straight season Melissa Bishop re-wrote the Canadian record book with an electrifying 1:57.01 performance over 800m at the Monaco Diamond League event in late July. The time was a hair ahead of her 4th place finish at the Rio Olympics when she set the previous standard of 1:57.02. Bishop would follow up her record performance with a fifth place finish at the World Championships in London. Dunkerley and Venne medal at Worlds
When Jason Dunkerley spoke to the crowd at the club’s 2016 award banquet, he announced his retirement from competitive racing after five Paralympic Games appearances and five medals. All of that suddenly changed in early 2017 when Athletics Canada told him he could qualify for July’s World Championships in London.
Dunkerely, who had been guided by Joshua Karanja for more than 5 years, would rely on new guide Jeremie Venne for London though as Karanja was injured. The pair appeared to mesh from the start, culminating in their run to silver at Worlds. As for whether he’ll compete again, Dunkerley said he’s not quite sure. He plans to “let the dust settle” from the championship before making a decision. Sekou Kaba named flag bearer at Jeux de la Francophonie
Hurdler Sekou Kaba was named Canada’s flag bearer for the opening ceremonies at July’s Jeux de la Francophonie in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It was the second time a Lion has led Team Canada into the stadium of a major games after Sultana Frizell carried the flag into the closing ceremonies at the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Kaba, the defending champion in the 110m hurdles, again found himself on the podium after a silver medal run in the Ivory Coast. He was one of three Lions to medal at the Games with Charifa Labarang picking up silver in the 4x100m relay for her native Cameroon and Ashlea Maddex grabbing a bronze in the women’s 100m hurdle event. Sharelle Samuel runs to bronze at Commonwealth Youth Games
For many, their first taste of international competition is an opportunity to get their feet wet – not for Sharelle Samuel. The Ashbury College student appeared primed and ready to go at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas this July. After a fourth place finish in the flat 400m, Samuel would return to pick up bronze in the 400m hurdles in a time of 59.59 seconds – just two tenths of a second out of top spot. The time was also personal best of nearly 1.5 seconds for Samuel and moved her to fourth overall in club history. Emergence of OneTrackMind vlog
For years, OneTrackMind was simply known as the guy to buy spikes from, but in late 2016 the man behind the brand, decathlete Kevin Nault, decided to get both in front and behind the camera. The vlog, depicting the day in and day out struggles and victories of life as decathlete, emerged as Canada’s preeminent track and field vlog in 2017.
Nault, along with training partners Matthew Johnson, Telvin Tavernier and Toluwalope Makinde make for an entertaining, if not hard working, quartet exemplified by the growth in viewership. If you’re not already a subscriber, check out Kevin’s YouTube Channel to sample some videos.
