By Adam Beauchemin
Seven months after charging to an OFSAA provincial high school cross-country running title at Terry Fox Athletic Facility, Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club distance runner Daniel Cova delighted the hometown crowd with another memorable performance as he vaulted himself into the under-20 men’s 5,000 metres silver medal position at the 2025 Canadian Track and Field Championships.
“It’s amazing. I always run my best races at home,” smiled the recent Louis-Riel high school grad who dashed to a massive personal-best time of 14:24.11 – the second-fastest U20 men’s 5,000 m time run by a Lion in club history behind three-time Olympic cyclist Mike Woods.
“It went perfectly,” Cova added. “I couldn’t ask for a better group to run it with, and honestly, everybody’s pushing each other. It was great.”
While this was only Cova’s second time competing in the 5,000 m – he debuted with a 15:02.13 clocking in his first 5,000 m race earlier this month at the Canadian Track and Field League Final in Ottawa – he didn’t see that as a disadvantage.
“I had no idea if I could run 14:20 or could run 15 minutes — it would have not made a difference for me,” he indicated. “I think it’s better to go into races like that with no expectation because you don’t put any pressure on yourself.”
While he didn’t plan on leading the pack during the race, Cova placed himself ahead of the pack early and led for nearly the entire race.
“A few times in the race I was trying to run wide and let a few people take the wind for a bit. Obviously, it didn’t happen — I led 3k for that race,” noted the OFSAA double bronze medallist in the senior boys’ 1,500 m and 3,000 m.
First-place finisher Iain Thomson, who was following closely behind Cova for much of the race, took the lead in the final 400 m and finished the race just under two seconds ahead of Cova.
“I thought I was going to get a little bit more blocking, but it is what it is. You got to run it to win, and you have to lead to win races,” added Cova, who will be heading to New York this fall on a Scholarship with Division 1 Iona University.
Read More: Daniel Cova earns 3 gold at NCSSAA track & NCAA scholarship
Cova said he was grateful for another chance to compete on his home track at Terry Fox.
“It’s my last two weeks in Canada and I really get to represent my club super well before I leave and just show everybody what I have left before going to New York,” underlined Cova, who will also compete in the U20 men’s 1,500 m at the July 30-Aug. 3 nationals.
Cova’s sentiments about competing at the Terry Fox Facility were echoed by fellow Lion Derek Strachan who recently completed his first year at McMaster University.
“Feels good. I mean, being away is also nice, but it’s nice just to go back to how it used to be to get some good training,” said the Glebe Collegiate Institute grad who finished eighth in the U20 5,000 m in 15:17.08.
“Going in I felt great, relaxed and whatnot,” he recounted. “Then the race started, I felt solid, like expected. And then it just gets really hard at that halfway point and feels brutal, but I stuck in there and finished OK with a small PB by about four or five seconds.”
Strachan said the full bleachers gave him the boost he needed to keep pushing when the race was at its most difficult.
“I could hear people cheering. It’s probably the busiest I’ve seen at Terry Fox, maybe ever. So, it was really cool to see, it’s got the atmosphere going, so it really helped. It was surprising,” he added.
This was Strachan’s lone event of the championship, while Cova will be back Friday morning for the 1,500 m heats.
Cova’s medal was one of three won by local athletes on Thursday at the nationals.
The Lions’ Connor Fraser captured the silver medal in the senior men’s discus with his toss of 50.23 m, while Ottawa’s Kevin Robertson, who now represents Saint-Laurent Sélect, won the bronze in the five-man senior 3,000 m steeplechase in 8:40.86.
Ottawa’s Mason Brennan took on the decathlon, competing in 10 events over two days and earning a ninth place finish in the U20 category with a score of 4,961 points.
“It was hard,” Brennan said after his final event of the decathlon. “I had no height in the high jump yesterday, so I had thoughts about ‘should I finish it? Should I go for it?’ But the guys are great and my support team is really great. I went for it, booked it, and managed to get some PBs. I got pretty close to my decathlon PB with no high jump, so I’ll take that.”
Brennan was happy with his effort in the throwing events, having earned a personal-best in the shot put with a distance of 11.86 m, but he was especially proud that he kept competing, even after a difficult high jump.
“I was proud that I didn’t quit,” he highlighted.
After a day off on Friday, Brennan will be back competing in the 110 m hurdles on Saturday.
Fellow Ottawa Lion Kyle London was slated to compete alongside Brennan in the U20 men’s decathlon, but withdrew after the 100 m race due to a hamstring injury.
Jackson MacKay, out of Western University, set a new Canadian record for the men’s U20 decathlon with his score of 7,652. He broke the previous Canadian record of 7,592 set by Nathaniel Mechler in 2016.
