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Our Manager of Junior Programs, Andrew Pagé, was a guest author on the Run Ottawa blog this week discussing “Why (and how) to get your kids into running this year”.  Please find an excerpt from Andrew’s blog below, with a link to the complete article.
There are lots of reasons for kids to get involved in track and field. It’s a great way to stay active, develop fitness, and build confidence at a young age. But did you know it’s also one of the best ways for kids to improve at all other sports?
Every year we hear from parents who tell us that since taking one of our programs their child is stronger on his or her skates, faster on the soccer pitch, throwing harder and with more accuracy but most importantly, enjoying their favorite sport more.
See full article here.

It was the first weekend of competition in 2015, and Lions athletes did their best to kick things off on the right foot. Adam Palamar got things started Friday night in Fayetteville at the Arkansas Invitational by taking a commanding victory in the men’s mile, winning in 4:06.32. According to the University of Tulsa track and field team, the time put Palamar atop the early season NCAA rankings.
Elsewhere Friday night, hurdler Alexia Lamothe placed fourth in her collegiate debut at the CanAm Classic in Windsor. The University of Windsor freshman set a personal best in the prelims of 8.82 seconds, placing her just outside of the club’s all-time top 10 list.
On Saturday at the Louis-Riel Dome, Lions athletes set two new facility records. The first record to fall was in the youth girls weight throw as Tanya Coulter lengthened her own record to 12.83m. Tanya had set the previous record in December at the opening meet of the season.
On the track, grade nine student Lauren Gale set her second Dome standard of the short season, winning the women’s 150m in 18.72 seconds. The time removed six hundredths of a second from Shelani Fernando’s previous standard set in 2010 and moved Gale into tenth on the club’s all-time ranking.
The Lions return to action this coming Saturday as they cross the border to attend the St. Lawrence Invitation in Canton, New York.

As we set out on a new year, we thought it would be helpful to take a look back at 2014 and a few of our accomplishments. Our sport is, by nature, one decided by the numbers. So as we look back, here are some of our numbers for 2014.
1
One Commonwealth Games gold medal, won by hammer thrower Sultana Frizell. She captured her second Commonwealth gold by throwing a Games record 71.69m. She remains the only club member to ever win individual gold at the Commonwealth Games
2
Lions athletes set two new Canadian records in 2014. Sultana Frizell kicked things off by extending her own national hammer throw record with a throw of 75.73m in May. Youth distance runner Claire Smith set her national record and didn’t even realize it when she ran 9:35.39 for 3000m to win OFSAA gold. She would shatter it again, running 9:22.75 at a Twilight Meet in late June.
3
The Ottawa Lions capture three provincial banners in 2014, including taking home their 10th straight overall club championship. The junior squad won their 10th title in 12 years while the midget team won for the 7th year in a row.
4
Lions athletes set four new provincial standards in 2014. In addition to Sultana Frizell’s hammer mark, Melissa Bishop lowered her own 800m record with a new best of 1:59.70. Bishop is the only woman in Ontario to ever break the 2 minute barrier for 800m. Claire Smith set the new standard in the U19 women’s 5000m, running 16:31.88 on her 17th birthday. The final mark came from the quartet of Keira Christie-Galloway, Alexandra Ethier, Lauren Gale and Shona McCulloch who set a new mark in the midget girls sprint medley relay with a time of 4:11.46.
7
Club athletes set seven new club records in 2014, headlined by the likes of hammer thrower Sultana Frizell and 800m runner Melissa Bishop. Michael Robertson broke both of his own 300m and 400m records, running 33.20 and 46.29 respectively. New men’s and women’s records were set in the 1000m with Mohamed Souleiman running 2:22.46 in New York City and Melissa Bishop going 2:38.75 in Amsterdam. The quartet of Devin Biocchi, Gord Frenke, Michael Robertson and Denray Jean-Jacques erased a 17 yr old record in the 4x400m with their 3:11.02 run in North Carolina.
30
Just how many meets do the Ottawa Lions host? Well in 2014 – 30! Yes, when you add up all the Dome Super Saturday Meets, the high school invitational meets, the Summer Twilight Meets and the like, we hosted more meets than anyone else in Canada. Of course, this says nothing of us hosting the Athletics Ontario Junior/Senior Championships and the Panamerican Combined Events Cup for the third year in a row.
60
In a sign of depth, it wasn’t just records being broken in 2014 as a total of 60 new all-time performances were made – a pretty impressive feat for a 41 year old club.  Hammer throwers had the heel-tow turns rolling with four performances in the weight throw and a further four in the hammer throw. Also in the field, five top ten performances were put forth in the pole vault, including Olivier Gauthier-Kwan’s CIS silver medal winning 4.85m clearance. The male sprinters laid down the most vicious assault on the record book with Michael Robertson, Oluwasegun Makinde, Gord Frenke and Gabriel Tesfaye re-wrote the top four in the men’s 300m.
152 
Lions athletes took home an astounding 152 medals provincially and nationally, including 25 at Canadian Championships, 4 at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Championships and 27 at Canadian Masters Championships.

Please be advised that due to the Holiday Season, training times for Ottawa Lions athletes at the Louis Riel Dome will be slightly altered.
The Dome has advised us athletes will be allowed to use the track for $5 on days where the facility is only open half the day. Below you find a complete schedule of the Dome’s opening hours.
Wednesday, December 24th – 8am to 12pm ($5 for OTTL members)
Thursday, December 25th – CLOSED
Friday, December 26th – CLOSED
Saturday, December 27th – 9am to 4pm (regular training times will apply)
Sunday, December 28th – CLOSED
Monday, December 29th – 12pm to 8pm ($5 for OTTL members)
Tuesday, December 30th – 7am to 8pm (regular training times will apply)
Wednesday, December 31st – 7am to 12pm ($5 of OTTL members)
Thursday, January 1st – CLOSED
Friday, January 2nd – TBD
Saturday, January 3rd – Back to regular hours (regular training times will apply)
Should you have any questions, please contact the club office at (613) 247-4886 or via email.
 

The first Super Saturday Series Meet of the year always seems to produce some record setting performances and this past Saturday’s event was no difference with no less than seven facility records falling on the day – all set by females.
Among the Lion athletes making an assault on the record books was grade nine student Lauren Gale, who obliterated the midget girls 300m record by more than a second as she won in a time of 39.98 seconds. The previous mark of 41.17 seconds was set last December by Jordan Savoury of Quebec. Making the mark more impressive is the fact Gale still has another year in the midget age category and was just five hundredths of a second off the youth girls record.
Also setting a new midget mark was Ottawa Lions female midget athlete of the year, Shona McCollch, as she trimmed nearly 16 seconds off the previous 3000m standard. Running head and shoulders above her competition on Saturday, McColloch won the seven and a half lap event in 9:49.08 – more than 24 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. The previous record of 10:05.07 had been set by Stephanie Smith of York University Track Club in 2005.
In the youth girls weight throw, Tanya Coulter added more than a meter to the previous best with her 12.56m attempt. Tanya now holds both the youth and midget girls Dome records in the weight throw.
While not a Dome record, University of Ottawa freshman Steve Nkusi won the men’s high jump in a school record equaling leap of 2.05m. The mark tied former pentathlete Shawn Wilcox’s record jump from 1994. The jump also qualifies Nkusi for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Championships next March in Windsor.
Other Dome records broken included:
Women’s 600m Open – Karine Belleau-Beliveau (’83) 1:29.38
Women’s 60mH U20 (76cm) – Arielle Dominique(’99) 8.73
Women’s 60mH U18 (76cm) – Arielle Dominique (’99) 8.73
Women’s 60mH U16 (76cm) – Arielle Dominique (’99) 8.73

Club athletes set four meet records and won 16 of the 30 events contested at the St. Lawrence University Holiday Relays on Saturday afternoon in Canton, New York. University of Ottawa senior, Devyani Biswal kicked the meet off with a bang, shaving three tenths off the previous record in the 60m hurdles, running 9.03 seconds. Also setting a new standard on the sprint straightaway was Sarah de Carufel, who set new records for the 60m in both the heats and final, winning the meet with a time 7.78. De Carufel previously held the record at 7.82 seconds set in 2013.
Another sprint record to fall was the women’s 200m, where not one but two club members bested the previous standard of 26.08 set last December by club member Lindsay Brandys. University of Ottawa sophomore Charifa Labarang sprinted to a winning time of 25.93 seconds, just ousting grade nine student Lauren Gale who finished in 25.95.
In the women’s mile, Gee Gee Clare McGrath captured gold in 5 minutes 8.47 seconds, to erase more than three and a half seconds off the previous standard. The mark also moves McGrath up a spot to third all-time in University of Ottawa history.
The final mark came in the field as Gee Gee senior Krista Sipprell bounded her way out to a new standard in the triple jump. Sipprell, originally from London, easily won the competition with a best jump of 11.21m enroute to breaking the three year old record.
Other winners on the day included:

• Luke Daillboust (University of Ottawa) – Men’s 60m hurdles (8.88)
• Remy Binns (Ottawa Lions) – Men’s Mile (4:22.69)
• Brandyn Martineau (University of Ottawa) – Men’s 60m (7.08), Men’s 200m (22.87)
• Charlotte Gardner (University of Ottawa) – Women’s 800m (2:20.96)
• Gabbie Campeau, Caitlin Fischer, Hailey McKechnie, Sarah Jackson (Ottawa Lions) – Women’s 4x400m (4:13.95)
• Austin White, Ethan Goodchild, Jay Weng, Ryley Gemmill (Ottawa Lions) – Men’s 4x400m (3:40.08)
• Shyvonne Roxborough, Lauren Gale, Keira Christie-Galloway, Lindsay MacMillan (Ottawa Lions) – Women’s 4x200m (1:45.79)
• Kevin Bates, Eugene Tu, Chris Thistle, Graeme McConnell (University of Ottawa) – Men’s Distance Medley (11:40.83)
• Melinda Rock (Ottawa Lions) – Women’s Pole Vault (3.25m)
• Zach Kerr (Algonquin Colleeg) – Men’s Pole Vault (4.30m)

Lions return to action Saturday, December 20th as they host the first Dome Super Saturday Meet of the season.

A small contingent of University of Ottawa Gee-Gee athletes made their way to Ithaca, New York on Saturday for the Greg Page Relays on the campus of Cornell University. Highlighting the day’s activities was 2014 CIS Champion Sekou Kaba’s scorching opener in the 60 meter hurdles where he finished second in 7.92 seconds – his fastest career opener.
Another noteworthy performance was Anais Leroy’s third place finish in the 3000m. The University of Ottawa freshman completed her seven and a half laps in an impressive 9 minutes 54.89 seconds. The mark moves Leroy into second on the Gee Gees all time top ten list and qualifies her for the OUA Championships in February.
Next on the schedule for the Gee Gees is the Saints Relays this coming Saturday in Canton, New York at St. Lawrence University.
 
 

It took less than 90 minutes for three historical throwing circles to “disappear” this sunny December morning as the first of many planned upgrades of the Terry Fox Athletics Facility in preparation for the hosting of the 2017 and 2018 Canadian National Championships.
”The competitive and  training memories stored away in those circles … we  really should have cut the concrete into paper weights for all the throwers,” reminisced club head coach Andy McInnis. “Built in the early 70’s and added to in the early 80’s … the memories in Ottawa, the records, the medals, the national teams made, the dreams crushed and fulfilled in this little shaded corner of our facility must be incredible.”
McInnis added, “the days of Sultana Frizell being able to launch her hammer over the throwing cage gates into stadium shot put area will be gone now.  The throws officials can finally breathe easy.”
 
With the circles now disposed of, new long throws circles, international cages and multi-throw training areas are planned for the Terry Fox Athletic Facility this coming spring to give our coaches and athletes further opportunities to succeed and enhanced interaction.

It was the case of another Canadian Cross Country Championship, another national team spot earned by runner Claire Smith on Saturday afternoon. After representing Canada at this year’s North American, Caribbean and Central America XC Championships, Smith’s seventh place finish at the junior championship in Vancouver earned her a return trip to the area championship as well as a ticket to the World Championships set for next March in Guiyang, China.
The Glebe Collegiate student was in a tight battle to get on the podium, completed the 6km course in 22:54, a mere six seconds behind bronze medalist Mirelle Martens. Claire, who recently signed a letter of intent to attend Stanford University in California, did win a gold medal as part of Team Ontario’s dominating performance in the provincial branch competition.
In the junior men’s competition, the team of Farah Abdulkarim, Cameron Caughey, Jonathan Favero and Jeremie Venne placed sixth overall in the club competition. According to Coach Kirk Dillabaugh, the team was “the first and only team to participate at the Championships since being hosted out in Vancouver, B.C.” Abdulkarim was the top finisher, placing 24th in the 82 person field. Caughey was 46th, Favero 51st with Venne rounding out the quartet in 71st.