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It was a successful World Masters Games for two Ottawa Lions athletes who made their way to Torino, Italy last month, picking up a combined three medals. Leading the haul was sprinter Wendy Alexis, competing in the W55 category, as she picked up the sprint double, capturing gold in both the 100m and 200m. Alexis was the class of both fields, winning the 100m and 200m in 13.93 and 29.92 seconds respectively. As evidence of her dominance, her margin of victory in the 100m was 1.62 seconds and 1.56 in the 200m. For her efforts, Wendy was named Ontario Masters Athletics Athlete of the Month for August.
Finishing second to Alexis in the W55 100m was fellow Lion sprinter, Linda Tauvette,  who claimed silver in a time of 15.55 seconds. Also competing in the 200m, Tauvette finished fourth with a time of 33.36 seconds.

It was a successful week at the Canada Summer Games for 400m sprinter Devin Biocchi. The soon to be senior at the University of Ottawa started off by picking up bronze in the individual 400m on Thursday with a last second surge at the line.  The late surge gave Biocchi the edge over the fourth and fifth place finishes by a grand total of 0.003 seconds. Devin would follow that performance up the next day running the final leg of the Ontario 4x400m relay, crossing the line in 3:07.45 to capture gold and set a new Canada Games Record.

Also in Sherbrooke, Devyani Biswal completed her season with a sixth place finish in the 100m hurdles, crossing the line in 14.43  on a rain soaked track at the University of Sherbrooke. In the men’s 1500m final, Mohamed Souleiman completed three and three quarter laps in 3:48.76 to finish fifth at the games. Rounding out the results for Lions athletes was Alex Berhe who finished 11th in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 9:59.72.

In the forty years since the Ottawa Lions were founded in the fall of 1973, club athletes have represented Ontario or Quebec at each and every Summer Games, winning a total of 35 medals, including at least one at each Games since 1981. 

The 2013 Canadian Youth Championships ended with a bang on Sunday as the quartet of Annie Dai, Reilly Jones, Alexia Lamothe and Erinn Stenman-Fahey set a new Canadian Youth Championship Club record in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:49.85. The previous record of 3:54.42 was set last year by the Laurel Creek Track Club, who incidentally finished second in Sunday’s race.
Annie Dai, who was part of the silver medal 4x100m relay team on Saturday kicked things off with an opening leg of 59.7 seconds. Dai handed off to Jones (57.4), followed by Lamothe (58.0) and culminated with a superb effort by Stenman-Fahey who closed in 54.8 seconds. Not only did their time when the club relay, but also would have beat the nearest provincial team by nearly two seconds.
In addition to her gold in the relay, Erinn Stenman-Fahey picked up a silver in the U18 girls 800m, crossing the line in a personal best 2:10.89. The silver medal brought her total for the championships to three, one more than she won a year ago in Charlottetown.
The final medal on the day went to Matt Bedard, who also picked up a silver, as he took second in the U18 boys 300m hurdles. Bedard, known primarily for his 400m prowess, has excelled over the intermediate hurdles since he began focusing on the event this summer. His time on Sunday of 38.58 seconds was nearly a second faster than his personal best entering the championship.
Other notable performances from the final day of competition included Austin White’s sixth place finish in the U16 boys 200m, where he sped to a new lifetime best of 23.47 seconds. As well, Alexia Lamothe, known primarily for her sprint hurdling, finished eighth in the 300m hurdles with a personal best time of 44.78 seconds.
In total, the Lions  team brought home five medals from the championships, one gold and four silver.

It was another day and another medal for the Ottawa Lions at the Canadian Youth Championships in Langley, BC. Running against girls a year older then her, Erinn Stenman-Fahey picked up a silver medal in the U18 girls 400m, crossing the line in a new personal best time of 56.07 seconds. For Stenmann-Fahey, this was her third ever medal at the championships, having picked up a bronze in the U16 800m last year as well as stepping to the U18 4x400m team to help them win silver. Erinn will again be competing in both those events on the final day of competition. Also in the 400m, Reilly Jones set a new personal best of 57.83 seconds on her way to a sixth place finish.

Other performances of note from Saturday included Jonathan Favero, who was able to complete seven and a half laps of the Langley track faster than he had ever done before, finishing sixth in the U18 boys 3000m with a time of 8:57.26. In the U16 boys 300m, Austin White cracked the top 8 with a time of 37.39. Lastly, Matt Bedard continued to show his ability to perform well in a championship environment running a personal best 50.18 seconds in the U18 boys 400m, as he inches closer to a sub 50 second clocking. Including two runs over 400m at the Canadian Junior Championships in July, Bedard has ran a lifetime best in each of his national level races this year, a truly tremendous feat.

The youth championships wrap up on Sunday with the Lions kicking things off at 10:00am PST with Austin White in the U16 boys 200m prelims.

After the first day of the 2013 Canadian Youth Championships, the Ottawa Lions are already on the medal table with a silver in the youth girls 4x100m relay team. The team of Anni Dai, Alexia Lamothe, Ali Chiarelli and Reilly Jones crossed the line in a time of 49.09, a quarter of a second behind the winning team from Laurel Creek.
It was nearly the second medal of the day for Lamothe after finishing 4th in the U18 100m hurdle final. Qualifying second to the final, Alexia finished in a time of 14.41 seconds, just 0.01 seconds off the podium. Next up for Lamothe will be the 300m hurdle timed final on Sunday.
Two other fourth place finishers on day one included Olivia Gaudet in the U16 girls 1200m. Gaudet, ran a three second personal best to cross the line in a time of 3:40.50. The Nepean high school student will next be on the track for the 800m on Sunday, an event she won bronze in at the Ontario championships just two weeks ago.
Rounding things out, the quartet of Austin White, Matt Bedard, Phillip Chau and Zach Kerr finished 4th in the U18 boys 4x100m relay in a time of 44.29 seconds.
Day two starts off for the Lions with Austin White competing in the U16 boys 300m final at 11:50am PST. Live results are available at http://liveresults.athletics.ca/Live_Results/2013/Legion_Youth_Championships/

Sprinter Oluwasegun Makinde made the best of a pre-world championship warm up meet in Germany today, running to a second place finish and a new personal best time of 20.62. Makinde was  among a small group of team Canada members competing in Weinheim. In addition to his run in the 200m, Makinde also ran the third leg on the 4x100m relay team, helping Canada to a second place finish, behind Germany, in 38.61.
Earlier this week,  Michael Robertson laid down the best 400m of his  life, winning Wednesday night’s twilight meet in 46.44 seconds. Not only did Roberston’s time shave 0.14 seconds off his previous best, and club record, set in 2010, but also eclipsed the former Twilight Meet Record of 46.75 set three years ago by Jon Reid of the Windsor Legion.
The 25th season of the Ottawa Lions Twilight Series culminates next Wednesday, August 7th. Please consult the schedule for a full list of events and times.

Athletics Canada has announced its 46 member team to compete at the upcoming IAAF World Championships in Athletics, and the Ottawa Lions are proud to congratulate six athletes who are currently or recently been associated with the club who have been named to the team.
Current members representing Canada include 800m runner Melissa Bishop, hammer thrower Sultana Frizell and 4x100m relay runner Oluwasegun Makinde. Among the three, Frizell is the only one with previous world championship experience, having finished 10^th at the 2009 championships in Berlin. However, with all having been a member of the Canadian team at last year’s Olympic Games, none are short on experience.
Bishop, who is ranked third all-time in Canada, will minimally be looking to advance to the semi-finals in Moscow; a feat which eluded her last year in London. The Eganville native enters the championships following a string of strong races that include a new personal best 1:59.76 at the final NTL competition in Victoria and most recently a seventh place finish in last weekend’s Diamond League event in London. Melissa’s preliminary run is scheduled for August 15^th at 1:55am EST.
For Frizell, she will undoubtedly be looking to return to the world final in Moscow. The Perth native enters the competition with a seasonal best of 71.57m, but has been consistently over 70m for most of the year. Qualifying in the women’s hammer throw will take place August 14th, where the top 12 throwers will advance to the final.
Coming off a 4^th place finish in the 200m at the recent World University Games, Oluwasegun Makinde seems poised to crack the lineup for Canada’s 4x100m relay team. Last Saturday in London, Makinde ran the third leg for Canada, helping them to a 38.58 second clocking. For the University of Ottawa student, this will be his second major international team with the relay squad, having served as an alternate last season at the London Olympics.
Among the other athletes named to the team, Alicia Brown, Tim Nedow and Gavin Smellie all have connections to the Ottawa Lions. Brown, who is studying at the University of Toronto, had been a member of the Ottawa Lions up until this season. The national champion over 400m will contest both the open 400m and also run as a member of the Canadian 4x400m relay team in Moscow.
A nine time national medallist as a youth and junior athlete for the Ottawa Lions, Nedow enters his first world championship as the reigning Canadian champion with a lifetime best of 20.74m. He is currently training in Kamloops, B.C. under the guidance of world renowned throws coach, Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk.
Rounding out the trio is Gavin Smellie, who will run lead off for men’s 4x100m team, a role he held both in London and two years ago at the World Championships in Daegu. Smellie, who ran collegiately at the University of Western Kentucky, has been training in Ottawa under the tutelage of national team coach Glenroy Gilbert since 2011.

Curtis Thom says thinking of himself as a world champion is still a little unreal.
“I just got home,” the Ottawa Lions track and field club member said Monday. “It’s kind of still, in my mind, ‘Holy cow, I actually brought a medal home. We got a gold medal as a relay team.’ I don’t think it fully has sunk in. I can look at the medal and know that I got it, but, in my mind, is it real. Is this almost a dream?”
Thom, Brent Lakatos of Dorval, Que., Jean-Paul Compaore of Sherbrooke, Que., and Alex Dupont of Clarenceville, Que., raced to a gold medal on Saturday in the men’s T53-54 wheelchair 4×400 metres of the International Paralympic Committee world championships at Lyon, France.
It was one of seven gold medals and 15 medals overall for Canada during the championships. Lakatos ended up with five, including gold in the T53 100, 200 and 400 metres and also silver in the 800. Compaore also won bronze in T54 10,000 metres.
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The Ottawa Lions captured their third consecutive  Senior Division Club Championships on the weekend by amassing 200 points in a broad range of events.  The University of Toronto Track Club was second with 163 and London-Western third at 125.  Project Athletics (84), University of Windsor Alumni Club (74) and York University T.C. took the next three spots.  For the Lions, the Senior title was their 11th in the 14 years that club champions have been declared.
In the Junior Division, the Lions lost their first provincial title in nine years to the National Champion University of Toronto Track Club.  It was the second time in two weeks the Lions had been defeated by UTTC which halted the club’s seven year reign as national champions in Ste Therese. The UTTC scored 150 points, 28 ahead of the second place Lions (122). The Windsor Legion was third with 80 points while Speed Academy and Speed River tied for 4th at 69 points as South Simcoe-Dufferin (61) took the 6th position.
Scores include points earned at earlier championships, including Combined Events, 10,000m, JW 5000m, 10km Walk but exclude scores from athletes in the top 8 but with performances that fail to achieve Level 1 in the AO Step Up Programme.
– With files from Athletics Ontario

At the recent Ontario Masters (35+) Championships in Toronto, a small group of club athletes brought home a total of ten medals, including six golds and one new provincial record.
Competing in the M65 category, Stan Seitz took first in both the pole vault and high jump, setting a record in the latter. Seitz’s 1.37m clearance added 1cm to the old record set by Ed Andrade in 2003. Stan cleared 2.75m for gold in the pole vault.
On the track, Wendy Alexis continued to show she is one the top sprints for age in the world. The 58 year old captured the W55 sprints double with clockings of 13.75 and 28.58 seconds respectively. To put the performances into perspective, they were equivalent to runs of 10.86 and 22.01 seconds by an open age athlete according to the World Masters Athletics Association age grade tables.
The other two golds came from Ray Wardle, who at 80 years young, also pulled off the sprint double, winning the 100m in 17.02 seconds and the 200m in 35.61 seconds.
Silver medals were won by Bernard St. Lewis in the M45 400m, Paule Couet in the W55 5000m and Michael Ferguson in the M45 800m. Ferguson also captured bronze in the M45 400m.