By Dan Plouffe
Speed skater Ivanie Blondin and ski cross racer Jared Schmidt earned the big prizes as the city’s top athletes were recognized for their performances in 2023 at the Ottawa Sports Awards banquet on Feb. 7 at Centurion Conference & Event Center.
Blondin collected the fifth Female Athlete of the Year honour of her career after winning World Championships and World Cup overall titles last year. That brought the 33-year-old Gloucester Concordes product within one of the record six honours earned by fellow speed skater Kristina Groves, after whom the Female Athlete trophy is named.
“That’s honestly pretty incredible, and it’d be pretty incredible if I could reach her kind of level,” Blondin told the Ottawa Sports Pages. “I always looked up to Kristina Groves, she’s been one of my idols growing up. It was really cool that I was on the same team as her before she retired, and that I got to train alongside her.
“It’s such an incredible honour when I look at everything Kristina’s done and other female athletes from the Ottawa region have done before me.”
Schmidt, 26, collected his first-ever OSA Male Athlete of the Year title following his breakout finish to 2023 when he captured three consecutive World Cup ski cross races.
“It means a lot to me to be recognized by my hometown and to have that support, so thank you so much,” Schmidt said in a video played at the banquet.
The Carleton University Ravens men’s and women’s basketball teams earned both the Male and Female Team of the Year awards after winning U Sports national titles on the same day.
Capital Courts Academy and Team Canada basketball coach Fabienne Blizzard and Nepean-Kanata Barracudas swim coach Scott Faithfull were selected as Female and Male Coach of the Year.
Mark Sutcliffe presented the Mayor’s Cup for Outstanding Contribution to Sport in Ottawa to ringette leader Phyllis Bergmans.
Ottawa Pacers and ISU speed skating official Rocky Lamontagne was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for a Technical Official.
Perhaps Canada’s best player of all-time, Queensview Goodlife and Team Canada squash coach Heather Wallace was honoured for her lifetime coaching contributions.
Bruce Meredith of the Ottawa Ski Hawks and Canadian Adaptive Skiers earned the Lifetime Volunteer award.
And Martin Comtois received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Media. Comtois recently completed a 25-year run in the Le Droit sports department when the printing presses stopped rolling at the end of 2023, but his first day at Radio-Canada/CBC Ottawa will be on Monday.
The 3,000th award of all-time was given out at the 70th annual edition of the banquet, with organizers making a special presentation to the SAM Group, which has furnished awards for the event for most of that time.
On top of the major awards, the OSA also recognized the city’s top athlete in 67 sports, plus local teams that won provincial, national or international championships in 2023, as well as several special recognition awards.
The full list of winners and bios on each honouree are available at OttawaSportsAwards.ca/2023-award-winners.