(Canton, USA---29 April 2023) Victoria Mcintyre runs to win the 100m in a meet record 12.28 seconds (-0.7) at the 2023 St Lawrence University Twilight Meet. Copyright 2023 Sean Burges / Mundo Sport Images.

Lions re-write record books at St Lawrence Twilight

by linkinbio

Conditions were far from ideal Saturday afternoon for the small contingent of Lions athletes that headed south to St Lawrence University to open their outdoor season, but that didn’t stop them from taking home some meet records and more than a few wins to open up their outdoor season.

A total of 10 Lions were in action at the SLU Intercollegiate Athletics Twilight Meeting, taking home four golds, a silver and a pair of bronze medals.

Victoria McIntyre dominated the fields in both the women’s 100 and 200 metres as she set new meet records in each event. On the straightaway, McIntyre was the class of the field, speeding her way to a time of 12.28 seconds – her fastest performance since 2013. The effort was so dominating, teammate Kennedy Banton-Lindsay took home the silver more than a second back of McIntyre. 

The 200 metres produced a similar story line for McIntyre, with her winning time of 25.27 seconds again being her fastest in a decade as a combination of nagging injuries and the pandemic have kept the University of Toronto graduate off the track for much of that time. Banton-Lindsay fell a spot on the podium, taking third in 27.83.

Triple jump produced another victory and meet record for the Lions. Heather Grandy was  commanding in her victory, leaping out to 10.78 metres almost a metre and a half clear of the field. Grandy’s jump added more than 20 centimetres to the previous meet record set in 2018.

For the men, Bertwin Ben-Smith picked up the only victory on the day. The University of Guelph graduate was first across the line of the 200 metres, stopping the clock in a time of 22.31 seconds, a half-second under the previous meet record. Teammate Michael Pinnock finished just off the podium in 22.90.

Fabrice Nonez opened his season with the best performance of his life. Known more for his hurdling, Nonez placed third in the flat 400 metres with a time of 51.39 seconds – more than a second faster than his previous best. 

At the Limestone Race Weekend in Kingston, André Alie-Lamarche took second spot in the Saturday night’s 10k in a tightly contested battle with Queen’s University’s Roman Mironov. Alie-Lamarche crossed the line in a personal best of 31 minutes 55.88 seconds – 1.2 seconds back of Mironov. 

On Sunday morning, Cameron Bruce took top spot in the half-marathon, finishing in a time of 1 hour, 20 minutes and 0.15 seconds. Daniel Cova placed second overall in the 5km race with a time of 16:08.83.

For updated Club rankings, please visit https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/ 

OTTAWA - August 19, 2020: Liz Maguire at the fifth Ottawa Summer Twilight Series meet of 2020, held under COVID-19 protocols at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility.

Lions enjoy weekend of road racing success

by InternationallinkinbioMastersNational

Monday was Patriot’s Day in the United States – a holiday celebrated on the third Monday of April commemorating some of the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. For running fans, it’s more commonly known as the day of the Boston Marathon. 

This year’s event in the Massachusetts capital featured a number of current and former Lions in action. Leading the contingent was Josh Cassidy, a mainstay at the event for more than a decade. The two-time Paralympian was 19th to cross the finish line on Boylston Street, stopping the clock in 1 hour 47 minutes and 2 seconds. 

While Monday’s result was Cassidy’s worst performance at Boston, he still managed to find the silver lining. “Coming down Boylston for the final stretch with the incredible support as always is emotional,” expressed Cassidy on Instagram following the race. “Even after a rough one, thousands of people patting you on the back, to say well done.”

The other two current Lions in Boston runners were a pair of masters runners – Liz Maguire and Rob Muir. Maguire finished Monday’s race in 3:18:16 to finish an impressive 10th among the women’s 55-59 age category. In the same age grouping, Muir finished 109th among the men with a time of 3:10:18.

In other road running action, Nicholas Pedersen and Jay Sneddon ventured their way across the country to take on the Vancouver Sun Run Sunday morning. Pedersen, who was battling a nagging injury heading into the race, posted a time of 33 minutes and 59.0 seconds to place 67th in the race of more than 25,000 runners. Nico was 9th in the men’s 19-24 category.

For Sneddon, the Sun Run is always a bit of a homecoming for the man who originally hails from nearby Tsawwassen. The 30-year-old cracked the top-100 as he crossed the line in a time of 34 minutes and 34.0 seconds to placed 84th overall. 

Closer to home masters runners Fritzlor Auguste and Gilles Frenette were in action at the Course Saint Laurent 5k in the Montreal suburb. Auguste, a silver medalist at last year’s Canadian Cross Country Championships, placed 45th overall with a time of 18 minutes and 36.0 seconds. Teammate Gilles Frenette was 58th across the line, stopping the clock at 19:12.0.

For updated Club Rankings, please visit https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/

OTTAWA - July 14, 2021: Nicholas Pedersen competing at Ottawa Summer Twilight #11 at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility.

Pedersen sets new best at Canadian 10k Championships

by linkinbioNational

The 2021 season has been a shift into a new gear for Nicholas Pedersen. The 21-year speaks about a shift in his mentality – to running courageously. The shift continued to pay dividends Sunday morning in Toronto as he set a new lifetime best  at the Canadian 10K Championships. Pedersen crossed the line in a time of 31 minutes and 45.0 seconds to place 41st.

“I am incredibly pleased with the result,” said Pedersen of his first Canadian senior championship performance. “Given the fitness going into it, I knew that sub 32:00 was ambitious yet within range of possibility.”

Sunday’s performance was just the latest in a line of what seem to be continually improving performances for Pedersen. The early season saw him set back-to-back bests over 5,000 metres on the track – taking nearly 15 seconds of his previous best. He then followed that up with gold in the 3,000 metre steeplechase at the Ontario Open Championships. “The more I run courageously the more that I realize it is less about the courage and more so about the trust I put in my fitness and the training I have done which allows me to race the way I do,” Pedersen describes.

Sunday’s performance is seen by Pedersen as good litmus test for his ultimate goal this fall – the Canadian Cross Country Championships to be held in Ottawa. “I only plan on coming with that much more fitness and intensity come November 27 to put on a show for everyone who supports me and to represent [the Lions] through racing with every ounce of heart that I have.”
Pedersen was not the only Lion competing in Toronto this past weekend as wheelchair racer Josh Cassidy took to the line following his top-five performance at the Boston Marathon six days prior. Cassidy crossed the finish line in a time of 21 minutes and 50.0 seconds.

“I used to live near Lake Shore Boulevard near High Park and never raced any STWM weekend events, so this was really fun to do,” Cassidy told Athletics Canada following the race. “They just made this [wheelchair] event a couple of weeks ago, so it worked out with my schedule. It was a demonstration. Hopefully it is something to build on for the future with prize money and a bigger field. It’s funny, whenever I am driving roads, I am always eyeing them up for training. And on Lake Shore, you can never do that unless it’s shut. It was fun to get out there, a fun course.”