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Canadian 10K champion, Josh Cassidy, won the 44th Shepherd Center Wheelchair Division of the AJC Peachtree Road Race yesterday, 15 seconds ahead of second place Josh George of USA… but he almost didn’t make it to Atlanta for the race.
Earlier this week his 10 hour flight back from a Grand Prix event in Birmingham, UK, turned into a 34 hour journey with interruptions in Newark. After delays, cancellations, a night at the airport, and rerouting, Cassidy’s $6000 state of the art racing wheelchair was ‘lost’ in transit by United Airlines.  Josh missed several training sessions this past week between travel delays and the missing equipment, a critical amount to maintain performance for competitions of this level – his usual regime is two training sessions a day, 6 days a week.
He managed to piece together and old racing chair to train eventually Tuesday night, but it didn’t feel quite right.
Cassidy compared it to “running in an old pair of shoes that don’t fit properly anymore.”
When there was no sign of his chair by Wednesday morning, Cassidy had to cancel his flight, and tell the organizers he wouldn’t be racing. Later Wednesday afternoon he finally tracked down his equipment at customs at Toronto Pearson Airport.
Josh decided he needed to still try and make it to Atlanta and “give it a crack”.
“I went in [to Toronto Pearson Airport], found the box containing my racing chair a demolished crumpled mess. Checked it out, looked like the chair was in one piece, packed it back up, went upstairs and booked a new flight, got into Atlanta around midnight, got my chair and rain gear ready, went to bed around 2 am, up 3 hours later, and was on the line for the 6:45am start.”
“I really didn’t know how it was going to turn out. I really hoped I would make top 5, with the field there. It has been tough in the usual post-olympic year financial slump.. really needed to try and win some prize money to continue funding training. I knew the scenario wasn’t optimal, but I had to block that out.”
“My coach [Amanda Fader] was laughing at me.. she knows I thrive off of these chaotic situations. I think she knew if anyone could win after a week like this, it was me. I think I just love accepting the challenge of doing the improbable when everything seems to be going against me.”
The race started at 6:45 a.m. at Lenox Square with the temperature at 70 degrees.  In wet and rainy conditions, the 6.2-mile course was wheeled under yellow-flag conditions signifying ‘exercise caution’ because of the weather. With the rain, there is always issues with grip between the gloves and the wheels for wheelchair racers.
“As soon as it is raining, you can’t expect the same results. And you can expect a higher chance of crashes, especially on the downhills where we hit nearly 60km/h here.”
Cassidy has competed in the Peachtree Road Race several times, and won in 2010 in 18:53.  “I know the course, but I had difficult competition in Joshua George, Krige Shabort, Aaron Gordian, Richard Coleman and Gyu Dae Kim who all seem to be in good shape. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out, but I knew that I would give it hell to the finish.”
Cassidy broke away on the long arduous climb at Cardiac Hill, around the halfway point of the race. “I wasn’t expecting to get away like I did, and I had to ignore the pain and the doubts and focus all my energy into every stroke, as I worked hard up those tough few kilometres in the rain.”
Cassidy’s finish time was 21:26, with Joshua George of the USA coming in second at 21: 41.  Third place was taken by Krige Shabort, in 21:50 also USA.
“I am really happy and really proud of this one. I needed this. It was an excellent winter of training followed by some misfortunate happenings and unfortunate results this spring. After taking some needed time off in May, I am still working hard to get back to where I want to be. But this felt closer to being me again.”
Cassidy’s next big races are at the World Championships in Lyon, France starting July 20th.   
Check out a video of his hard gruelling climb and ‘break’ here: http://www.11alive.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=2525742412001

 Adam Palamar is having the type of season most athletes dream of and Monday evening he did something that many track fans in Canada couldn’t have dreamed of any time soon – break Kevin Sullivan’s 20 year old Canadian Junior Record for 1500m. By crossing the line in 7th place at the Harry Jerome Classic in Vancouver yesterday, Palamar covered 1500m faster than any Canadian junior male ever had, stopping the clock in 3:38.92. Sullivan, considered to be Canada’s greatest ever 1500m runner, had previously set the record of 3:39.11 at the 1992 IAAF World Junior Championships in Seoul. Monday’s time improvement was just one of many that has come the way of the Merivale High School grad this season. Adam, who had been plagued by injuries during his high school days, entered the season with a personal best of 3:51.51 but has managed to chop valuable seconds off on four occasions this year. Palamar, who will be in Ste Therese, Quebec to defend his Canadian Junior title next weekend, is now ranked seventh in the world among juniors according to the IAAF.
 
Palamar was not the only Ottawa Lion success story in Vancouver as both Sultana Frizell and Melissa Bishop claimed victories in their respective events. Frizell took home her first NTL victory of the season with a throw of 71.39m over an international field that included Olympic fifth place finisher Kathrin Klass of Germany. The winning throw was Sultana’s second best of the season and a marked improvement over her 68m throw from two day’s prior at the Edmonton International Track Classic, where she finished second.
 
On the track, Bishop continued to show her strength as Canada’s top female 800m runner as she comfortably grabbed her third straight NTL victory on Monday. Bidding her time near the front of the race through 600m, Bishop made her sprint for home in the final 200m, running away from Karine Belleau-Beliveau of Quebec to win in a season’s best 2:00.67. Bishop’s previous NTL victories had come in Edmonton, two days prior, as well as Toronto in mid June. Up next for both Bishop and Frizell is the NTL finale in Victoria this Friday where they both hope to claim the league trophies in their respective events as well the $4500 prize money that goes with it.
 
Also making news this weekend were a small group of Espoir athletes (under 23 years of age) at the Canada Games Trials in Windsor. In total, four athletes were named to Team Ontario on Monday for the summer event that takes place once every four years. Representing the Lions this in Sherbrooke, Quebec will be Devyani Biswal (100m Hurdles), Devin Biocchi (400m), Mohamed Souleiman (1500m), and Alex Behre (3000m Steeplechase). Each of these athletes qualified by virtue of finishing in the top two in their event this past weekend as well as hitting the Games standard. Both Biocchi and Souleiman were recent finalists at the Canadian Championships in Moncton, while Biswal just missed out on the final with a tenth place finish. The track and field portion of the Canada Summer Games takes place during the second week of the event, August 11-18.

With athletes set to compete on two continents and two provinces, today will be a busy day for the Ottawa Lions family. Kicking the day off is Rachael Burrows, who is set to compete in the Sainsbury’s IPC Grand Prix Final in Birmingham, England. Burrows, fresh off a successful weekend at last week’s Canadian Championships where she defended her T34 100m and 200m titles, will be contesting the 200m as she puts the final touches on her preparation for next month’s IPC World Championships. Lining up beside Rachael will be all three medalists from last year’s Paralympics Games, including British national Hannah Cockroft, last year’s gold medalist. The race goes off at 12:03 pm EST.
Also in attendance in Birmingham will be fellow wheelchair racer Josh Cassidy who will be competing in one of his marquee events, the T54 1500m. Cassidy, who lost his Canadian 1500m title last weekend by the slimmest of margins will be looking to rebound against a quality international field that includes 2012 Paralympic gold medalist David Weird of Great Britain. Josh will be racing at 1:15 pm EST and results from him and Rachael will be available here.
In another grand prix event, hammer thrower Sultana Frizell, 800m runner Melissa Bishop and 100m hurdler Ashlea Maddex will be taking part in the third stop of the 2013 National Track League, the Edmonton International Track Classic. Frizell, who captured her third Canadian championship last Sunday will be up against a strong field Saturday afternoon that includes Olympic finalist Kathrin Klass of Germany and newly minted United States champion Amanda Bingson, who broke Frizell’s North American record of 75.04m last weekend in her victory. On the track in Edmonton, Melissa Bishop will be looking to repeat her victorious performance from the Toronto stop with the hopes of moving one step closer to the NTL overall title and the $4500 that goes with it. Saturday’s 800m field includes a virtually identical field to last week’s national championship final as well as American veteran, Maggie Vessey.
Maddex, who narrowly missed a bronze last weekend in Moncton will be in tough against a quality international field including Olympic finalists Lolo Jones, Jessica Zelinka and Angela Whyte. You can watch Frizell (12:50 pm EST), Bishop (2:35 pm EST) and Maddex (3:00 pm EST) compete live online on Flotrack.
Rounding out the list of weekend competitors are 14 Lions who have headed south to Windsor to compete for a spot on Team Ontario for August’s Canada Summer Games taking place in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Among the top contenders to earn a spot on the provincial team, based on rankings, are 100m hurdler Devyani Biswal, 200m/400m runner Devin Biocchi, 800m runner Mohamed Souleiman, 1500m runner Alex Behre, pole vaulter Zach Kerr and shot putter Ashley Connell. To be guaranteed a provincial team spot, athletes will have win their event at the trials. Live results from Windsor can be found here with competition continuing through Sunday.

The Ottawa Lions are looking for volunteers to support the hosting of the 2013 Boiling Point Track Classic. We are looking for volunteers for both Friday July 5th and Saturday July 6th.
Boiling Point 2013, the premier athletics competition in Canada for athletes with a physical disability, will be contested Saturday, July 6th, 2013. The Boiling Point has cemented itself as a Global leader within the international calendar of Para-athletics competitions.
If interested, please email, [email protected]

Moncton — It was a successful final two days at the Canadian Championships for the Ottawa Lions as both able bodied and athletes with a disability combined to bring home 14 more medals to raise the total from the championship to 25.
In the final session of the championship, former roommates Sultana Frizell and Melissa Bishop each captured national titles and confirmed there place on the Canadian team that will participate in Moscow this August. Both athletes entered as the top seed in the respective events and looked comfortable on their way to victory.
With the women’s 800m going through the opening lap in 62 seconds, it was clear no IAAF A standards would be set and that a victory would be essential to ensure a spot on the world championship team for Bishop. As she has done countless times, Melissa bided her time before utilizing her speed to sprint away from the field. In the final meters, with victory comfortably within her reach, the normally quiet Bishop threw up her hands in excitement at her first senior national title in 2:02.84.
In the field, Sultana Frizell took back the national crown that had eluded her the past two years as her throw of 68.23m topped the field by more than four meters. Frizell did have some longer throws, but had trouble keeping the ball within the sector lines as her fifth round effort cracked a hole in the 70m marker. With one of the biggest personalities in the sport, Frizell would later accept her gold medal after performing a cart wheel on to the medal stand.
Other gold medals came from Paralympian Brandon King who doubled up in the T12 100m and 200m with times of 12.30 and 25.00 seconds respectively. Fellow Paralympians Jon Dunkerley (T11 100m), Rachael Burrows (T34 200m) and Curtis Thom (T54 200m) also picked up sprint championships over the two days. Meanwhile Josh Cassidy continued to show his vast range by grabbing a silver in the T54 800m less than 24 hours after picking up the 10,000m title in 24:09.97.
The final gold of the championship came from one of the last events as Devin Biocchi, Oluwasegun Makinde, Michael Robertson and Gordon Frenke combined to win gold in the 4x100m relay in a time of 40.22 seconds, beating a composite team of Ontario runners.. The time is the second best performance ever by the club, just 0.07 seconds off the club record of 40.15 set in 2011 by Makinde, Robertson and Olympians Oluseyi Smith and Richard Adu-Bobie. In addition to their relay gold, Robertson and Makinde each picked up individual bronze – Robertson in the 400m and Makinde in the 200m. Makinde, in fact, missed silver by the narrowest of margins, 0.002 seconds, losing to Olympic teammate Jared Connaughten of PEI.
Rounding out the medalists from the weekend were Adam Palamar and Sekou Kaba who repeated as silver medalist in the 110m hurdles in a time of 14.03 seconds. Kaba, who battled injuries most of the indoor season, had been in the lead most of the race before giving up critical hundredths of a second after hitting hurdles eight and nine. He was beaten to the line by Ingvar Mosley of Toronto by just 0.02 seconds.
In the men’s 1500m, Adam Palamar did what no Ottawa Lion male had been able to do since 1998 – win a national championship medal. Despite still being a junior aged athlete, Palamar has showed he can run with the “big boys” after finishing second, as the top Canadian, in the most recent NTL stop in Toronto with a personal best time of 3:41. In the final, Adam bided his time in the middle of the pack before making a surge with 400m to go. He would eventually be passed by Olympian Nathan Brannen with 200m to go and finally by Jeremy Rae in the homestretch. Palamar will look to add to his national medal tally later next month as he sets out to defend his junior title in St. Therese, Quebec.
From this championship, seven athletes have secured their spot on a world championship team and are as follows.
Selected to represent Canada at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Moscow are:

• Melissa Bishop – 800m
• Sultana Frizell – Hammer Throw

Selected to represent Canada at the IPC World Athletic Championships in Lyon are:

• Josh Cassidy – T54 Wheelchair
• Jason Dunkerley and guide Joshua Karanja – T11 Ambulatory
• Jon Dunkerley and guide Brian Cummings – T11 Ambulatory
• Curtis Thom – T54 Wheelchair
• Rachael Burrows – T34 Wheelchair

Moncton — Friday was another successful day  here in Moncton at the Canadian Track and Field Championships as Lions athletes added five more medals to the vault, highlighted by golds from Paralympic athletes Curtis Thom and Jason Dunkerley.
On the heels of his victory in Thursday’s T54 100m, Thom demonstrated his range by claiming the 400m title as well in 48.22 seconds. The time was just off Curtis’ seasonal best performance of 48.06 seconds set back in May at a meet in Switzerland. A finalist a last summer’s Paralympic Championships, Thom will be in contention to be named to Canada’s team for the upcoming IPC World Championships in Lyon, France.
Also ascending to the top of the podium yesterday was multiple Paralympic medalist Jason Dunkerley as he captured the T11 800m crown. Dunkerley, who was competing in just his third race since donating a kidney to his wife earlier this year took the title in 2:07.35. Finishing second in the race was Jason’s brother Jon in a time of 2:15.44.
In the decathlon, Patrick Arbour captured his third national championship medal in four years with a silver. Arbour had previously won bronze in 2010 and 2012. The former University of Ottawa Gee-Gee’s score of 7254 points was his second best performance ever in the event and sets him up nicely as he heads off to Kazan, Russia next week to compete in the World University Games.
Rounding out the medalists on day two was Joshua Cassidy, who captured a bronze in the T54 5000m.
 

Moncton — The Ottawa Lions got off to a great start at the 2013 Canadian Championships on Thursday with club athletes picking up a total of six medals on day one. The senior championships are making their first appearance at the Moncton 2010 stadium and Paralympians Rachael Burrows and Curtis Thom wasted no time in capturing gold.
Burrows, a sixth place finisher at the Paralympics last year, easily defended her T34 100m title in a time of 23.21. Rachael will also before competing in the 200m event on Saturday evening before she heads across the pond to a grand prix meet in Birmingham, England next week.
For Curtis Thom, yesterday’s weather was a welcome break from the cold and rain he’s experienced at recent races in Switzerland. With the sun shining and temperature on the track in high 20’s, Thom turned in an excellent performance with a 14.70 second clocking. He will also compete in the 200m and 400m this weekend.
The final gold came in the T20 1500m with Tommy Des Brisay taking the title with a 4:41.39 clocking. Others to pick up medals were were Jon Dunkerley and his guide Brian Cumming who picked up silver in the T11 400m and Jared Broughton in the T13 1500m. The final medal of the day came from Josh Cassidy who rolled his way to a silver as well in the T54 1500m in 3:27.81.
 
 

A late addition to the Toronto International Track and Field Games start list last night, 1500m runner Adam Palamar certainly made it clear to organizers he deserved to be in the field of top level runners, including multiple Olympians. Palamar, who just recently finished his first season the University of Tulsa, looked comfortable running with the big boys as he sped to a new lifetime best of 3:41.34 and a second place finish. The Merivale High School grad was the top Canadian in the field, defeating defending national champion and two time Olympian Nate Brannen. With his third PB in as many months, Palamar has dropped just over 10 seconds off his best time, with Tuesday’s effort moving him to seventh on the club’s all-time list. His time also set a new 1500m junior standard for the club, dipping a mere 0.09 seconds below Mike Woods’ mark set while winning the 2005 Panamerican Junior title.
For Melissa Bishop, Tuesday’s 800m tour of Varsity Stadium was another race, and another World Championship B standard. Patiently biding her time through 600m, Bishop found another gear with 200m to go before speeding past British national, Marilyn Okoro in the final 100m, crossing the line in 2:00.84. With the time, Melissa is currently the top ranked Canadian female over 800m, but will undoubtedly be searching for a sub two minute performance at the Canadian Championships next weekend in Moncton to punch her ticket for this summer’s World Championships in Moscow.
Other medal winners at the second stop of the National Track League schedule included hurdler Sekou Kaba who finished second behind decathlete Damian Warner of London in a season’s best 13.94 seconds and hammer thrower Sultana Frizell who finished third with a toss of 69.29m. Like Bishop, Frizell is also the top ranked Canadian heading into nationals and will be looking for the elusive 72m throw in Moncton to secure her spot in Moncton.

While the weather may have been cool, the numerous Lions competing at last weekend’s OFSAA Track and Field Championships in Oshawa laid down some pretty hot performances on the track and in the field. Headlining the list of accomplishments was Charifa Labarang, who can now officially be called the fastest high school girl in Ontario as she claimed gold in both the senior 100m and 200m. After setting a new personal best of 11.88 seconds in the 100m prelims, Labarang returned to the finals with her second best performance ever, 11.93, to win over Rebecca Murray by 0.04 seconds. Charifa’s time in the prelims now moves her up to number four all-time in club history. Not to be outdone, the senior at Omer-Deslauriers followed up that performance with another life time best in the 200m, 24.56 seconds, to edge out triple World Youth medallist, Christian Brennan of St. Mary’s in Hamilton. Her 200m time moves her up a notch to number eight in club history.
 
In the field, grade 11 student Zach Kerr was looking for not only a third straight OFSAA gold in the pole vault, but also a new personal best that hopefully punch his ticket to Donetsk, Ukraine for this summer’s IAAF World Youth Championships. The Hillcrest Hawk did not disappoint in either vein. Kerr, who was the last to the enter the competition, at 4.05m, made quick work of his first three heights and clinched gold with a 4.30m clearance. He struggled at 4.40m, using all three attempts to successfully clear the barrier, before clearing the world standard 4.55m on his second attempt. With his new personal best, Kerr now moves up a couple notches to fourth on the club all-time list.
 
The final gold came from hurdler Geoff Lawson who triumphed in the junior boys 100m hurdles. His winning time of 13.54 seconds was nearly a half second improvement over his previous best entering the competition and just 0.2 seconds off the OFSAA record. For Lawson, an accomplished hockey player, this was his second career OFSAA medal after having won silver in last year’s midget boys 300m hurdles.
 
In the middle distance and distance races, Lions runners turned in a number very impressive performances. Chief among those was Claire Smith who broke the previous OFSAA record in the junior girls 3000m but still only finished third in 9:55.95. Smith’s previous best in the event had been 10:13.00 set back in May. In the senior girls 3000m, Olivia Robertson annihilated her previous best, dropping more than 25 seconds off her personal best as she crossed the line finish line in 9:46.77 for bronze. In the junior girls 800m, Erinn Stenman-Fahey knocked more than six seconds off her best to claim bronze in 2:12.29. In the midget boy’s category, Owen Day added to his OFSAA XC silver from the fall, winning another silver in the 1500m and picking up a bronze in the 800m. In both races, Day improved his personal best by more than six seconds.
Rounding out the list of medalists were Ashley Connell who finished second in the senior girls shot put with a personal best heave of 13.18m. The most decorated Lion of the weekend was Wade Embury who picked up a silver and bronze in the 200m and 400m respectively before leading his school to silver in the 4x400m. Also grabbing a relay medal were Alex Telford and Clara Phillips who lead Brookfield HS to silver in the senior girls 4x100m.

As Samantha Murphy walked off the track at Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon Friday night, she did so as the second fastest female Lion ever over 800m. Running at the NCAA Championships, Murphy leap frogged past former club record holder Grace Verbeek with her new personal best time of 2:02.10 to finish fifth.
Murphy has had a breakout season at the University of Illinois that has seen her lifetime best in the event drop by more than six seconds. With her fifth place finish, Murphy also earned her second All-American distinction of the school year. She had previously placed fourth in the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.
Maddex, Makinde Robertson compete in NTL opener
A trio of Lions headed east to Halifax this weekend to compete in the first stop of the 2013 National Track League Circuit, Aileen Meagher International, on Sunday night. Hurdler Ashlea Maddex continued her strong season, placing fourth in the strong field, ahead of Olympic finalist Phylicia George, with a wind aided time of 13.49 seconds.
In the men’s 200m, Oluwasegun Makinde placed second behind fellow Olympian Tremaine Harris in a a time of 21.18 seconds. Meanwhile in the 400m, Michael Robertson, finished fourth in 47.69.