The Ottawa Lions Track-and-Field Club will enjoy all-time high participation in the Olympics this summer – a big feather in the cap for all the athletes, coaches, officials, and volunteers involved in the club, says Lions head coach Andy McInnis.
Five current club representatives – Sekou Kaba (men’s 110 m hurdles), Segun Makinde (men’s 4×100 m relay), Melissa Bishop (women’s 800 m), Tim Nedow (men’s shot put) and Farah Jacques (women’s 4×100 m relay) – made the Olympic grade, plus there are also past Lions Alicia Brown (women’s 400 m & 4×400 m) and Mike Woods (road cycling), not to mention Sultana Frizell, who met the Olympic qualification requirements but was left off the Canadian team.
And then there is Glenroy Gilbert, who will coach at his fourth Olympics after attending five as an athlete.
“It’s all about development,” underlines McInnis while cleaning up from the club’s final Twilight Meet of the 2016 season, where local athletes ranging from young kids up to seniors competed.
Some of the high-performance group stick around in Ottawa, McInnis notes, like Kaba, Makinde and Jacques.
“It’s my second home,” smiles Kaba. “It’s the only track in Ottawa so everyone’s like a family. Things just click, there’s no reason to go elsewhere.”
While others such as Nedow (in Sweden), Brown (in Toronto) and Bishop (in Windsor) setup shop elsewhere.
“There’s all sorts of roads to Rome,” signals McInnis. “The key is it started here. And that makes it special. Without that start here, chances are they wouldn’t be where they are now.”
—Dan Plouffe