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Down the back stretch they come! If you’ve ever been to the McGill Team Challenge, Canada’s largest university meet, you’ve certainly heard the phrase. As the Ottawa Lions and University of Ottawa Gee-Gees head to Montreal to take on some of the best athletes in the country, that phrase will not be the only piece of familiarity this weekend. Among those competing this weekend will be a number of current Lions representing their respective universities or currently training outside of Ottawa. Chief among them is 2012 Olympian, Melissa Bishop who will make her season’s debut tomorrow afternoon, toeing the line in the 600m against fellow Lion, Emma Galbraith and Olympic teammate Sarah Wells of Toronto. Bishop, who had a breakout season in 2012, becoming just the third women in Canadian history to break the 2:00 barrier for 800m, will undoubtedly be using this meet as barometer for how training has been progressing as she prepares for this summer’s world championships in Moscow.
 
Another athlete to keep an eye out for will be the energetic Yves Sikubwabo as he lines up for the University of Guelph in a deep 3000m field tonight. The 2012 OUA XC rookie of the year opened up his season two weeks ago at the Can-Am Classic in Windsor with a 8:35.83 clocking, good enough for third. With a lifetime best of 8:18.46, Yves will certainly looking to improve on his 15th place ranking in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).  Joining him in tonight’s race will be fellow Lion, Scott Donald, who will be representing St. Francis Xavier University. Sikubwabo will also compete in the 1500m on Saturday.
 
In what may be one of the most hotly contested events of the weekend, with seven runners ranked at 8.20 seconds or faster, the men’s 60m hurdles will feature 2012 CIS Champion, Sekou Kaba and Olympian, Oluwasegun Makinde. Kaba, who holds a personal best of 7.92 seconds, is making his season debut after recovering from a recent knee injury. Makinde on the other hand has already four hurdle races under his belt this year and despite a two year layoff from the event has lowered his personal best on three of those occasions. More known for his prowess over 200m, the former Colonel By standout is currently ranked 2nd in the CIS with a best of 8.15 seconds.
 
Makinde will look to show off some more of his speed as he takes to line in the 300m tomorrow afternoon. He will be in tough against teammates Michael Robertson and Gord Frenke as the three fight to cross the finish line first. Robertson, known for his prowess over 400m holds a lifetime best in the event of 33.20, while Frenke, a finalist over 400m at last year’s Olympic Trials, set a new personal standard of 33.78 seconds just two weeks ago in Ottawa.
 
If you can’t make it to Montreal this weekend, you can follow along online with live streaming coverage at  http://mcgilltrack.com/live and live results available here. 
 
As always, please stay tuned to @OttawaLionsTFC for more information as it happens this weekend.

A reminder that the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club will be holding their Annual General Meeting this evening at 7:30pm at ES Louis-Riel.
Details
Annual General Meeting
École Secondaire Louis-Riel
1655 Bearbrook Rd, Gloucester, ON
7:30pm
January 24, 2013
Agenda 
 

Saturday morning, a dedicated group of athletes boarded buses at 7am destined for St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. The early wake up call didn’t appear to have much of an effect as Lions athletes came home with four meet records, including three new facility records.
Hurdler Devyani Biswal got things started in the 60m hurdle prelims by sprinting to a personal best and facility record of 8.78. The record would be short lived as she lowered the mark again in the final to 8.77 seconds on route victory. Biswal’s time erased club mate Ashlea Maddex’s previous standard of 8.85 seconds, set in 2010.
400m specialist, Devin Biocchi, also did some rewriting of the record books yesterday by stepping up in distance to win the 500m in a time of 64.46 seconds. As evidence of Biocchi’s dominating performance, his time was nearly four and a half seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. The time ranks as the third fastest in club history.
The 500m was not the only record breaking performance Biocchi would put forward on the day as he teamed up with brothers Oluwasegun and Toluwalope Makinde as well as Michael Robertson to easily win the 4x200m relay in 1:27.88. The field house record of 1:28.49 had been the standard since 2005.
In addition to their success in the relay, the Makinde brothers also claimed three other sprint victories. Oluwasegun, won the 60m, and used that sprint speed to drop three one hundredths off his personal best in winning the 60m hurdles in 8.15 seconds. The result currently has him ranked second in Canadian University Sport. Younger brother Toluwalope, claimed victory in the 400m with a time of 51.06.
Sprinter Victoria McIntyre rounded out the record breaking performances by winning the 200m in 25.06 seconds. Her time eclipsed the previous meet record of 25.50, set by club mate Esther Akinsulie in 2005. The Ashbury College senior also set two personal bests on her way to winning the 60m in 7.77 seconds.
Other top performances included Charlotte Gardner winning the women’s 400m in 59.37 seconds.Second to Gardner was Erinn Stenman-Fahey who also captured the 800m in 2:22.81.  In the field, Ottawa athletes swept the pole vault as Melinda Rock captured the women’s crown with a leap of 3.30m while Nelson Cecereu won the men’s competition with a height of 4.10m.  Divya Biswal, competing for St. Lawrence University, won the triple jump with a leap of 11.31m and finished second in the long jump at 5.04m.
The Lions return to action next Saturday in Montreal at the McGill Team Challenge.

The Ottawa Lions kicked off the new year with a bang yesterday at the Super Saturday Series Meet #2 at the Dome @ Louis-Riel. Leading the way were decathlete Patrick Arbour and sprinters Oluwasegun Makinde and Michael Robertson who combined to produce three Canadian leading marks and four personal bests.
Arbour kicked things off in the shot put with a sixth round throw of 15.11m, adding 45cm to the Dome record he set in December and producing his first ever throw over 15m. Arbour would follow that lifetime best performance with another in the pole vault as he cleared 4.46m for a share of the victory with Olivier Gauthier-Kwan.
On the track, Oluwasegun Makinde was in great early season form, producing two personal bests en route to winning the 60m hurdles in a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) leading time of 8.18 seconds. Makinde was also victorious in the flat 60m, winning in a time of 6.85 seconds.
Finishing third behind Makinde in the 60m was Michael Robertson in 6.96 seconds. The effort proved to be just a warm up last year’s University of Ottawa athlete of the year, as he followed that performance up with a speedy 33.40 second effort to win the 300m. Robertson’s time currently ranks as the top performance in Canada.
To wrap up the meet, Robertson teamed up with Oluwasegun Makinde, Toluwalope Makinde and Gabriel Tesfaye to produce a Canadian leading time in the 4x200m. The quartet, representing the University of Ottawa, won handily in a  time of 1:25.91.
Other notable performances included Charifa Labarang running a personal best 7.69 seconds in the 60m heats. The performance would stand as a new Dome junior record for just a short period as Amelia Brohman of C.A.N.I. sped down the track in 7.67 seconds to take the win in the final. In the field, heptathlete Karla Shepard won the women’s high jump with a leap of 1.66m. The performance moves her to seventh on the club’s all-time performance list.
The Lions will return to action next Saturday as they head south to Canton, New York to take part in the St. Lawrence University Invitational.

The Ottawa Lions will hope to kick off 2013 with a bang as the Super Saturday Series reconvenes tomorrow at The Dome @ Louis-Riel. The event kicks off with the 3000m timed finals at 11:30am, where 800m runner Emma Galbraith will give the longer distance a go. Field events will commence at noon with the shot put where Dome record holder Patrick Arbour will look to improve on his standard.
 
The sprint events should be sizzling with 2012 Olympian, Oluwasegun Makinde, and 2011 Panamerican Games finalist, Michael Robertson each making their season’s debut. Makinde, who was an alternate on the Canadian men’s 4x100m relay team in London this summer, will contest the 60m as well as the 60m hurdles, an event he has not run since the CIS finals in 2010. Meanwhile, Robertson will compete in the 300m, where he holds the Dome record of 33.21, and also join Makinde in the 60m sprint. The pair will be joined by Makinde’s younger brother Tolu, and hurdler Gabriel Tesfaye as they represent the University of Ottawa Gee Gees in the 4x200m relay.
 
Another match up to keep an eye out for on Saturday will be the junior women’s 150m. Training partners Charifa Labarang and Victoria McIntyre will both contest the 60m as a warm-up before making a run at national team member Kimberly Hyacinthe’s junior 150m Dome record of 18.32. In the first Super Saturday Series Meet of the season, Labarang just missed the mark with a time of 18.35, while McIntyre is coming off a record setting performance of 39.93 seconds in the 300m.
 
Participants are encouraged to arrive early, as meet registration will run from 10am-12pm. Please note that registration for the both the 60m and 3000m will close at 11am.
For more information on the meet, please click here.
To get you motivated for Saturday
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAMkSJ-M24Y]

The Ottawa Lions will host their Annual General Meeting on the evening of Thursday, January 24, 2013 at 7:30pm. The meeting will take place at École Secondaire Louis-Riel. All members are invited to attend.
Details
Annual General Meeting
École Secondaire Louis-Riel
1655 Bearbrook CH, Gloucester, ON
7:30pm
January 24, 2013
Agenda
Note: The location of the exact room will follow.

Athletics Canada announced its annual award winners today in Ottawa, where Jason Dunkerley and his guide Josh Karanja were named Outstanding Para-Athlete of the Year in Ambulatory Events. Jason and Josh brought home an impressive two medals and two Canadian records from the 2012 Paralympic Games. They won silver in the T11 5000m and a bronze in the 1500m event.
Dunkerley and Karanja will receive their award at the 2013 Canadian Championships being held in Moncton, New Brunswick June 20-23.

It may have been cold outside, but the performances on the track and in the field were heating up yesterday at the Super Saturday Series Meet #1 being held at the Dome @ Louis-Riel. In the Ottawa Lions final meet heading into the holiday season, Victoria McIntyre, Erinn Stenman-Fahey, Emma Galbraith, Adam Richardson and Justin Cuddihey made good use of their last opportunities to set age class records at the Dome, while Patrick Arbour broke the open men’s shot put record.
McIntyre, who set a meet record over 300m just two weeks ago at St. Lawrence University, dropped her personal best by  nearly eight tenths of a second, crossing the line in 39.93 seconds. While she only had an eye on breaking Fiona Callendar’s youth record of 40.45, her effort also eclipsed Christiane Lela’s junior record of 40.09 set in 2007.
In the women’s 1000m, midget runner, Erinn Stenman-Fahey edged out teammate Claire Smith to take the victory and set a new midget record of 2:56.49, while Smith finished in 2:57.60. In fact, both runners came in under the former record of 2:59.55 held by Alanna Shearman. Stenman-Fahey broke the midget 300m record as well. On the men’s side, youth also reigned supreme as 16 year old Lucas Trapeau edged out Jeff Mountjoy of Queen’s University to win in 2:33.05 while 15 year old Justin Cuddihey ran 2:44.82 to break Trapeau’s midget record.
Over 1500m, Alex Behre produced an excellent early season result, edging out former Queen’s University runner Michael Nishiyama to win in 3:55.70. In third place was 17 year old Adam Richardson who’s time of 3:56.50 took 35 one hundreds of a second of the previous record held by Adam Palamar. The women’s side featured a duel between junior Emma Galbraith and former University of Ottawa Gee-Gee Jen Perreault, who was making her debut in the event. The two women were never more than a couple feet from each other the entire race, but in the homestretch, Galbraith would outsprint Perreault to win in a record 4:28.56. Perreault crossed the line in 4:28.84. Another excellent result from the women’s 1500m came from youth runner Olivia Robertson who took eight seconds off her PB to finish in 4:34.29.
Decathlete Patrick Arbour demonstrated his versatility Saturday with his victories in the men’s 60m hurdles and the shot put. Arbour, who has been working on his running technique of late saw the fruits of his labour with a speedy time of 8.48 seconds in the hurdles, a 0.03 second improvement on his personal best. In the field, the former thrower produced one of the best series of his life, with his shortest throw measuring 14.24m. He would win with a record setting toss of 14.67m.
Other performances of note Saturday included University of Ottawa freshman Nelson Cecereu’s victory in the men’s pole vault with a PB and school record clearance of 4.36m. Also, in the women’s 150m, high school senior Charifa Labarang just missed out on national team member Kimberley Hyacinthe’s youth record with a time of 18.35 seconds. However, she did beat he next closest competitor by nearly a second.
The Lions return to action Saturday, January 12th as they host Super Saturday Series Meet #2 at the Dome @ Louis-Riel.

When Athletics Canada announced its nominees for their list of annual awards yesterday, a record three Ottawa Lions members were recognized for very successful 2012 seasons. Jason Dunkerley, with guide Josh Karanja, and Josh Cassidy were both nominated for Outstanding Para-Athlete of the Year Award in the ambulatory and wheelchair categories respectively. Sekou Kaba, who received his Canadian citizenship earlier this year, was nominated for the Dr. Fred Tees Memorial Trophy as the most outstanding athlete in a Canadian university.
 
Dunkerley, who teamed up with Karanja in 2011, had arguably his best season ever on the track culminating in two medals at the Paralympics in London. On the  road to bronze in the T11 1500m and silver in the 5000m, Dunkerley produced lifetime bests in both events including a Canadian record 4:07.56 in the 15000m. In addition to Dunkerley’s international success, he and Karanja also captured gold at the Canadian Championships in both events. Dunkerley and Karanja were nominated along with sprinters Braedon Dolfo and Virginia McLachlan.
 
For Josh Cassidy, 2012 was a very busy year as the wheelchair racer contested events from 800m all the way up to the marathon. It was the marathon where Cassidy great deal of notoriety early this year as he captured the historic Boston Marathon in a world record time of 1:18:25. From there Cassidy would go on to claim a trio of gold medals at the national championships in Calgary, sweeping the T54 800m, 1500m and 5000m events. In London, Cassidy’s best result would come in the 800m with a 5th place finish. He also finished 10th and 12th in the 1500m and marathon respectively. Josh will be in tough as he is nominated alongside Paralympic champion and world record holder Michelle Stillwell and triple medalist from London, Brent Lakatos.
 
For hurdler Sekou Kaba, 2012 proved to be a breakout season. It all began with the indoor season as Kaba asserted himself as one of Canada’s top sprint hurdlers by winning the CIS Championships in March with a nation leading time of 7.92 seconds. Sekou would continue to improve outdoors as he would drop more 0.2 seconds from his personal best, finishing second at the Canadian Championships with a time of 13.79 seconds. Kaba’s success at nationals would take him to Guanajuato, Mexico for his first national team appointment and he would not disappoint, placing fifth in a strong field. Sekou faces some stiff competition for the Dr. Fred Tees Memorial Trophy as he goes up against Olympic semi-finalist Sarah Wells of Toronto and national junior record setting race walker, Ben Thorne of Vancouver.
 
Athletics Canada will announce the awards winners next Wednesday, December 19th and the recipients will be honoured at the 2013 Canadian Championships in Moncton, New Brunswick.

The Lions will start another year of one of the largest meet hosting schedules in Canada next Saturday as the Super Saturday Meet Series kicks off for the eighth straight year. This year’s Super Saturday Series will feature three meets commencing on December 15 with future dates of January 12, and March 2.
Next Saturday’s meet will commence at 12pm on the track and 12:30pm in the field with a special Youth Quadrathlon running from 9am-11am for children aged 6-12. The Youth Quadrathlon will consist of the shot put, long jump, 60m and 800m.
Events taking place on December 15th include:
60m
60m Hurdles
150m
300m
600m
1000m
1500m
4x200m relay
4x400m relay
Long Jump
Triple Jump
High Jump
Pole Vault
Shot Put
Weight Throw
For more information on the Super Saturday Series and meet registration, please click here.