HIGH ACHIEVERS: Rideau Canoe Club captures Ontario Cup championship

HIGH ACHIEVERS: Stay-Safe Edition
Keeping Local Sport Spirit High During the Pandemic

By Martin Cleary

WEEKEND WRAP: Rideau Canoe Club prepared for next week’s Canadian canoe-kayak sprint championships on home waters by winning the Ontario Cup at the provincial championships on the weekend.

Rideau scored points in all U14, U16 and U18 age-group racing classes, including a six-medal performance from Julia Price in the girls’ U14 division, which featured gold in C2 and C4.

Dax Morris and Nate Provost of Rideau combined for first-place results in the boys’ U14 C2 and C4. In the C1 race, Morris was second and Provost placed third.

The Rideau U16 girls swept the medals in the C1 race as seven of the nine paddlers were wearing the purple singlet. Zoe Wojtyk had firsts in C1, C2 and C4, while younger sister Abby was first in C4, second in C2 and third in C1.

Kayaker Callie Loch of Rideau had several strong efforts in the girls’ U16 class, including a first in the K1 race. The provincials also saw the debut of mixed K2 and C2 races, which will appear in the 2022 Canada Summer Games.

Meanwhile at the Athletics Ontario masters championships in Toronto, Kimberley Howitt and Serge Faucher, both of the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club, were double age-group champions.

Howitt raced only against the clock in her women’s 35 class and posted fast times of 1:05.59 for 400 metres and 2:28.28 for 800 metres. Faucher won the men’s 55 200 and 400 metres in 26.83 and 58.95 respectively.

In the hammer throw, Boris Beasts’ Imre Rohonczy took the men’s 55 title at 36.95 metres, while Boris Zaitchouk had the best throw of the day at 47.97 metres for a men’s 70 victory.

Thomas Warren of the Lions tossed the one-kilogram discus 29.76 metres for a first-place result in the men’s 75 category.

Ottawa cyclist Alex Cataford saw his La Vuelta a Espana Grand Tour come to an early end, when he crashed four kilometres from the Stage 2 finish line on Sunday. He went to hospital and was diagnosed with a broken collarbone.

“This is a pity for him and the team,” said team sport director Oscar Guerrero. “He is young, comes to develop and to fight for breakaways.”

Cataford did not start Stage 3.

Ottawa’s Neville Gallimore, a defensive tackle for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, will be out of action for six to eight weeks, after dislocating his left elbow in an exhibition game Friday against Arizona.

Gallimore, a former St. Patrick’s High School student/athlete, left the field in intense pain, but a hospital exam showed no structural damage. He could return to play sometime in October.

Ottawa Rowing Club’s Madeleine Lauriault and Jana Peachey of the North Star Rowing Club in Dartmouth, N.S. finished 10th overall in the women’s double at the world rowing junior championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Lauriault and Peachey had four races: third in heats, second in repechage, fifth in the A/B semifinals, and fourth in the B final.