For the fourth year in a row, the Ottawa Lions were named the top amatuer club at the annual Ottawa Sports Awards dinner held on Wednesday.  The club had another fantastic year as they earned the title of top track and field club in Ontario by sweeping the team title in 4 of the 5 age categories contested, coming a close 2nd in the 5th.  The Lions also won the team title at the National Junior Championships in Winnipeg and the National Youth Championships hosted here in Ottawa.

The Lions and uOttawa sprinters swept the top 3 spots in both the Womens’ and Men’s 60m events at the St. Lawrence University Invitational on Saturday.  Delphine Atangana won the women’s 60m (7.49) while Moussa Sissoko (6.82) won the men’s event.  Charifa Labarang (200m), Victoria McIntyre (400m), Denray Jean Jacques (500m), Michele Krech (60m Hurdles) and Julia Nikonorova (Mile) all won their events for the Lions.  Please click on Read More to find out more about our athletes.

There was another large turnout at the Super Saturday Dome Series, this time with an international flavour as St. Lawrence University from New York was in attendance.  The meet was highlighted by a couple of excellent 300m runs from the Lions’ Esther Akinsule (37.83) and Mike Robertson (33.40), the latter competing for uOttawa.   Other highlights, all turned in by Lions’ athletes competing for uOttawa, included Sekou Kaba’s run over the 60m Hurdles(8.12), Julia Tousaw’s 1000m (2:49.19) and Segun Makinde’s 60m dash (6.88).  The only Dome record fell when the uOttawa Men’s 4 x 200m relay team hit the line in a sizzling 1:26.09.

For more information on the meet, please click on Read More.  Results from the meet are available on our Results and Ranking page.

Annie Leblanc of Quebec ran a nation leading 2:44.81 in the 1000m to crush both the U20 and Open Dome records in the first meet of the Super Saturday Indoor Series.  The meet, which attracted the largest turnout in its history, saw 5 other Dome records fall, four of them to Lions’ athletes.  In the U16 category, the record setters were Lindsay Spoerri in the 300 metres, Alanna Shearman in the 1000 metres and Lucas Trapeau in the 1500 metres while Adam Palamar broke the U18 mark in the 1500 metres.

To find out more about the meet, just click on “Read more” and check out the full results posted on our site.

Athletics Canada today announced that Jason Dunkerley is the 2011 winner of the Outstanding Para-Athlete of the Year Award.  Jason had an outstanding year.  He won gold in the 800 metres in the T11 classification at the IPC World Championships in New Zealand in February.  At the Para Pan-American Games in Guadalajara in November, Jason won the silver medal in the 1500 metres and the bronze medal in the 5000 metres. 

Congratulations Jason!

A large group of Lions, running for the club and the uOttawa GGs, competed at the Can-Am Invitational hosted by St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York on Saturday and won 14 events, breaking 5 fieldhouse records in the process.

Frenke, Tousaw and Fernando led the record parade for the Lions while Makinde and Robertson set records competing for uOttawa.  To find out more about these and other performances, check out ‘Read more’.

On very cool, windy and wet Saturday in Vancouver at the Canadian Cross Country Championships, our Masters Men 40+ team won the team title.  Yves Sikubwabo’s strong 2^nd place finish led the Junior Men’s team to a bronze medal and the Junior Women’s team finished just 2 points out of third.  Check out ‘Read more’ for more details.

Jason Dunkerley showed his mettle at the Para Pan-Am Games when, after losing his regular guide runner to injury, he still managed to win a silver medal in the 1500m and a bronze medal in the 5000m. Alister McQueen, recently arrived in Ottawa, won bronze in both the Men's T44 200m and javelin.

Click on 'Read more' to find out more about these performances and how replacement guides stepped up to help Jason.

The Youth Girls’ and Junior Men’s teams won convincingly at the Ontario Cross Country Championships leading the Lions to a 4^th place finish in the overall club standings.  The Midget Girls’ team took the silver medal and the Junior Women grabbed the bronze medal. 

The top individuals were Olivia Robertson (Midget), Emma Galbraith (Youth) and Scott Donald (Junior) who all finished 4^th in their respective races. 

Click on Read More for additional information.

Sultana Frizell celebrated her birthday in style by having her best throw of the season (70.11 metres) to win the silver medal at the Pan Am Games.  Here is the relevant part of the Press Release issued by Athletics Canada,

``Sultana Frizell has won Canada’s first athletics (track and field) medal at the XVI Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico in the women's hammer throw. If that isn't memorable enough for the athlete from Perth, Ont., who trains under the great Anatoliy Bondarchuk, today just happens to be her birthday. "I am super happy with today especially with not going to Worlds. I went back and refocused and put everything into medaling here at Pan Ams. I wanted to perform well here and that’s the case”, said a jubilant Frizell. Her throw of 70.11 metres was good for second place behind Cuba’s Yipsi Morena who set a new Pan American Games record of 75.62 metres.``

Sultana Frizell, Canadian and Commonwealth record holder in the Hammer Throw, and 400 metre specialist Mike Robertson have been named to the Canadian team that will be competing at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The Games get underway this month with the Athletics competion beginning on Sunday, October 23.

To check on their progress, visit the web site of Athletics Canada.

The Ottawa Lions are pleased to announce that we have received a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation for $35,000 to increase the safety and quality of training and competitions for all ages by certifying volunteer officials and purchasing new and improved equipment. 

The Mission Statement of the Ontario Trillium Foundation is “Building healthy and vibrant communities throughout Ontario by strengthening the capacity of the voluntary sector, through investments in community-based initiatives.” 

The Lions are committed to expanding the opportunity for people, young and old, to participate in track and field at the level to which they aspire.  The club has coaching programs for all ages and abilities, from 6 to 60 and from beginners to national team members.  As well, the club provides competitions at all levels from elementary schools through high school, university to provincial and national championships.  As a result of the club’s endeavours, Ottawa has become the track and field hub of Eastern Ontario for competition and the training of coaches and officials.

The Athletics competition of the Commonwealth Youth Games starts tomorrow in the Isle of Man.  Denray Jean Jacques gets into the blocks for his 400 metre heat on Friday hoping to advance to the final on Saturday.  Emma Galbraith toes the line on Saturday for her semi-final in the 800 metre with the final on Sunday.

All that anyone can ask of an athlete who is going to compete at an international championships is to come up with their best performance.  Segun Makinde did that and more at the World Student Games in Shenzhen, China.  Segun beat his personal best in all 4 rounds of the Men`s 200 metres.   Segun entered the competition with a personal best of 20.99 but lowered that to 20.90 in the very first round.  He then ran 20.72 and 20.74 in the next 2 rounds to advance to the final where he raced to a great 5^th place finish in 20.83.

Mike Robertson advanced to the semi-final round with a time of 47.20,  ran 47.52 in the semi-final but did not advance to the final.

Adam Palamar won 2 gold medals leading the Lions to 13 gold, 17 silver and 7 bronze medals at the Bantam, Midget, Youth Championships in Toronto last weekend.  The Lions won the Bantam and Youth categories.  The points tallied this weekend combined with the results from the Junior and Senior Championships led the Lions to their 7^th straight overall club championship, more than doubling the score of the second place club.