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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.

In the final event of day one at the 2013 IPC World Championships in athletics, wheelchair racer Josh Cassidy finished fourth in the T54 10,000m. In a very tightly contested final, Cassidy missed out on a podium finish by just 0.15 seconds, crossing the line in 23:06.08. Josh’s next event will be the 800m semi-finals on Monday morning.
In the women’s T34 200m, Rachel Burrows replicated her Paralympic Games finish from a year ago, placing sixth in a time of 39.93 seconds. The time for Burrows was her second best of the season. She will next be in action on Monday in the T34 100m final.
On day two of the championships, the only Lion in action will be wheelchair racer Curtis Thom who will be contesting the T54 400m. His semi-final goes at 4:23 am Eastern where he’ll need to finish in the top three or produce one of the two fastest non-qualifying times to advance to the final at 1:27 pm Eastern.

With the 7th IPC World Championships tomorrow in Lyon, France, two Lions will be roll to the line with a shot a medal. Canadian champion Rachel Burrows will kick things off with the T34 200m final at 10:04 am Eastern. A finalist at last year’s Paralympic Games final, Burrows enters the championship with a seasonal best of 38.49 and will be looking to improve upon her current 6th place world ranking.
The other Lion in action on day one of the Championships will be Josh Cassidy, competing in the T54 10,000m final. Cassidy, who produced a seasonal best effort of 21:36.25 in Canberra in January, enters the race as the number five ranked competitor. Josh’s race goes off at 1:07 pm Eastern and as with Rachel,both can be viewed live online on Paralympic TV.

Application Deadline: July 24, 2013
Position: Office Manager
Job Description:
The Ottawa Lions Track & Field Club is the largest and the most successful track & field club in Canada.  We have developed a comprehensive approach towards our sport that includes programs for all – no matter the age, no matter the aspiration.   The club is a not-for-profit organisation that is professionally managed and that relies on a volunteer coaching staff.   The Ottawa Lions Track & Field Club is looking to hire a Office Manager.
Reporting to the Executive Director, the Office Manager’s primary function will be to act in a client service function to athletes, members, coaches and parents in the club.  The candidate must be bilingual in both French and English, have a passion for amateur sports, be extremely client service oriented, technologically strong and possess solid leadership skills.   See the attached job description for further information.

• University degree, college diploma or equivalent work experience
• Fully bilingual and proven effective verbal and written communicator.
• Excellent computer skills in a Microsoft Windows environment, including Microsoft Outlook, PowerPoint, Word and Excel.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with all internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to meet tight deadlines and work well under pressure.
• Strong organizational skills, time management skills and attention to detail required.
• Ability to work flexible hours, including weekends and travel as required.

Please submit your resumé and cover letter in confidence via e-mail by Wednesday, July 24, 2013: [email protected]
Salary Range: $40,000 per year (based on 40-hour work week)
Contact Information:
Richard Deneault
Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club
Chair, Human Resources Committee
[email protected]
Full Job Description

With a bronze medal from the national senior championships and a new Canadian record in his back pocket, Adam Palamar knew people would definitely be gunning for him as he looked to repeat as Canadian Junior 1500m champion. Nonetheless, Palamar showed he was the class of the field in Saturday’s final as he led from the gun, battling the wind to easily pick up his second consecutive junior title in 3:51.04, with the next closest competitor finished more than two seconds behind. Also in the race was teammate Alex Wilkie who pulled out a top 10 finish with a 4:00.76 clocking. Palamar would later follow up his 1500m victory by winning his 800m semi-final – advancing him to Sunday’s finals.
In the decathlon, both Matthew Johnson and Kevin Nault had a phenomenal second day as each man added more than 400 points to their overall personal best coming into the meet. Johnson, who finished in sixth with 6110 points, pulled off one of the most interesting feats of the championship as he made his first attempt at 4.00m in the pole vault. Shortly after taking off the ground his pole snapped in half, sending him flying onto the mat where he landed safely, but it was a small piece of his pole that flew 75 metres across the track to land in the combined events tent that caught the attention of a few. Despite the set back, Johnson would go on to clear 4.20m, a height equal to that of the bronze medalist in the open competition.
One of the busiest individuals on the second day of the championship was 19 year old Charlotte Gardner who appeared to be the only individual contesting the difficult 400m/800m double. After running to a season best 57.18 seconds in the 400m, Gardner came back less than 30 minutes later to run in the qualifying section of the 800m. As the field went through 400m in a pedestrian 70 seconds, Gardner was able to make use of her 400m speed to sprint past most of the field to cross the line in second and advance to the evening semi-finals where she would run the second best race of her life, 2:17.63 – two spots out of the final.
Heading into the third and final day on Sunday, keep an eye out for medal threats Adam Palamar in the 800m, Ashley Connell in the shot put and of course the boys and girls relay teams.

He wasn’t even supposed to be there originally, but as a late addition to the Canadian team at the 2013 World University Games, Michael Robertson showed the coaches they made a great choice as he helped Canada to a silver medal in the 4x400m relay. The quartet that also included Benjamin Ayesu-Attah from Coquitlam, B.C.,Brendon Rodney of Toronto and Daniel Harper of Brampton, Ont. crossed the line in 3:05.26, the fastest time by a Canadian team in a number of years.
Robertson’s run in the 4x400m relay came after an earlier appearance in the 4×100 relay final where he was teamed with club mate Oluwasegun Makinde. The pair teamed up with Sam Effah of Calgary and Brendon Rodney to originally cross the line in fifth place with a time of 39.39, but were later disqualified.
In Ste Therese at the Canadian Junior Championships, the first day of the decathlon wrapped up with Matt Johnson and Kevin Nault both on pace for a personal best. In the 1500m semi-finals, Canadian record holder Adam Palamar  easily advanced to the final by winning his heat in 3:58.71. Teammate, Alex Wilkie advanced on time, out of the same heat, crossing the line in 4:00.58.
Also advancing to a final were Charlotte Gardner and youth athlete Reilly Jones in the women’s 400m. Gardner and Jones went 2-3 in the first semi-final.
Finishing out the evening, Charlene Rhead finished sixth in the 2000m steeplechase final in 7:10.13. Teammate Maggie Schuenert placed 13th with a time of 7:33.53.
 

Two years after his fifth place finish at 2011 World University Games in Shenzen, China, Oluwasegun Makinde was looking move up a couple notches on the results page today, with his eyes set on a medal. Entering the final with the fourth fastest time, he was certainly in contention, although running from lane seven meant he couldn’t see the majority of his competitors. As Makinde came off the corner and headed for home he was in a dead heat for third with the Japanese competitor, Shota IIzuka. Izuka would pull ahead of him in the final 100m leaving Makinde to out duel his compatriot, Brendon Rodney for fourth. The University of Ottawa student crossed the line in a windy 20.61 seconds and had just one comment about his race to friends and family on his Facebook page, “So close.”
From yesterday’s competition, 25 year old Patrick Arbour finished up the decathlon with a score of 7240 points to finish in 8th place overall. It was an up an down second day for the Canadian silver medalist as he won the discus with a best throw of 47.64m, but had his lowest vault of the season at 4.20m and finished up with a 5:08.00 1500m. Like Makinde, Arbour took to Facebook following the competition, saying only, “Disappointing finish. Time to Rest.” The next decathlon for Arbour will take place in late August as he competes in the Woerden International in Holland as a warm up to participating in September’s Francophone Games in Nice, France.
Next up for the Ottawa Lions in Kazan is Michael Robertson, who will be competing in his second World University Games. The University of Ottawa graduate student was a late addition to the national team, and is expected to run on either of the 4x100m or 4x400m relays and possibly both. If on the 4x100m squad, he would be joined by Makinde.
You can watch all of the action from the track live online at LIVE FISU TV

Friday night in Victoria, 800m runner Melissa Bishop did something she’s done four times before – break the club record. Bishop culminated her National Track League schedule with her third victory in three attempts, crossing the line in a club record 1:59.76. With the victory, Melissa also claimed the overall NTL 800m title, out duelling fellow World Championship Team member Karine Belleau-Béliveau 40 points to 36.
Bishop, who has been quickly finding her stride since early June, believes she has more left in the tank. “This track has always produced fast times, and they always get a good crowd out here,” Bishop said. “This [her time Friday] is huge. And I think I’ve got more in me.” She will get her chance in the coming weeks as she heads to  Europe for a race or two before making her way to the Canadian pre-worlds camp in Kamen, Germany.
Also in Victoria, hammer thrower Sultana Frizell made it two in a row, winning her second NTL event in five days with a meet record throw of 68.89m. With the victory, Frizell secured her first NTL title after three attempts and with it, the $4500 in championship prize money. Rounding out the Lion contingent was hurdler Ashlea Maddex who finished 4th in Victoria with a time of 13.66 seconds.
Also in action Friday night was a small group of middle distance runners who headed down the 401 to compete in the London Distance Series 1500m Night. It proved to be a successful evening on the track with four runners hitting personal best times, highlighted by Mohamed Souleiman’s 3:45.66 clocking for second place overall. On the women’s side, Alana Shearman took more than four seconds off her previous best running across the line in 4:45.28.