Ottawa at the Canada Games Day 3: Double-podium day for Rideau paddler Madeleine Beauregard, youngest swimmer wins 2 medals

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Newsletter by Keiran Gorsky, Martin Cleary, Tyler Reis-Sanford, Dan Plouffe & Farrah Philpot

Early Monday morning, in preparation for their C-2 women’s 500-metre event, junior world champions Isabel Lowry and Madeleine Beauregard were out for a gentle morning pre-paddle when their canoe took an unfortunate tumble into Quidi Vidi Lake.

“It was pretty cold,” Beauregard said, still with a shiver in her voice.

The wind was brutal for the Team Canada mates at the junior world championships in Portugal at the end of July, but they both agree it was significantly worse in St. John’s. The course at Quidi Vidi has been troubled as of late, protruding weeds having to be trimmed just after the recent Royal St. John’s Regatta at the end of July.

The spill seemed a bad omen for Beauregard, even as she laughed about it during her interview with the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Keiran Gorsky. At virtually the last minute before their event, she and Lowry opted to swap their usual places in the boat. Lowry, typically a strong steerer, shuttled to the front and Beauregard shifted to the back.

The dynamic duo managed to beat out their Nova Scotian friends/rivals in Victoria Tran and Grace Theunissen in an astonishingly close preliminary race, with less than two tenths of a second between them. In the finals, though, it was the Nova Scotians who caused the upset, winning the final race with a time of 2:22.021.

The four paddlers all represented Canada at the junior worlds, with Lowry, Beauregard and Theunissen combined to win a C-4 global title.

“Of course, like, everyone always wants to win,” smiled Lowry. “Me and Mado definitely wanted to have a bit of a redemption race from trials.”

Considering the last-minute switch and the unfamiliar Atlantic climate, though, both of them were relatively content to settle for silver, especially with the events they have lined up.

Later that afternoon, Beauregard dominated the C-1 1,000 m race, finishing more than five seconds ahead of B.C.’s Veronica So in second place.

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“I was pretty nervous going into it,” Beauregard noted. “It being a minute longer than usual definitely didn’t help.”

And yet, a few seconds later, she suggested the unrelenting wind might’ve worked to her advantage. Beauregard, a powerful steerer, sat at the back of the boat for the first time when she and Lowry won gold along with Theunissen in Portugal.

Headwinds aside, Lowry said Team Ontario are in a buoyant mood in Newfoundland. Beauregard came to the interview holding a clothespin in her hand with the words “Pass it on” written on top of it. Ontario paddlers had been pinning them on each other all morning, purportedly a tradition passed down by Isabel’s mother Heidi from her beach volleyball days.

“Not her,” Beauregard laughed when asked if she planned to tag Lowry. “Because now she knows. I have to tag somebody who doesn’t see it coming.”

Rideau’s Naroditsky & Brais-Miklosi win Ottawa’s first gold

Kayakers Ryan Naroditsky and Frederic Brais-Miklosi almost took their own plunge into cold water when they first got into the kayak model they raced in Newfoundland, unstable and standing unusually close to the water surface.

“It was horrible,” Naroditsky recalled of their first test run at Rideau Canoe Club.

They gradually adapted to it, keeping their legs strong and straight and emphasizing powerful, fluid strokes. They breezed through their K-2 men’s 500 m preliminary race in St. John’s before besting Nova Scotia’s Conrad Hoogerboord and Tate Levy in the medal round, claiming gold with a time of 1:44.133.

“To go from almost tipping to winning at the Summer Games is pretty sick,” Naroditsky grinned.

The Nova Scotians finished just one second behind, but neither of the Ottawa paddlers were particularly concerned in a race they led from the get-go. Brais-Miklosi agreed the wind was less bearable here than in Portugal, but maintains it was an equal opportunity annoyance. Where the sidewind in Portugal targeted those unlucky enough to wind up in outer lanes, in this case, everyone was fighting headwinds.

“Everybody gets screwed here,” Naroditsky put it bluntly.

All in all, it was a memorable day for Ontario paddlers, 11 of whom hail from the local Rideau and Carleton Place clubs. In addition to Lowry, Beauregard, Naroditsky and Brais-Miklosi, Kate Osborne took home the silver in the K-1 women’s 500 m event, while Cole Norman won bronze with race partner Nicholas Shirokov in the C-2 men’s 1000 m.

Beyond the obvious geographical boon, Brais-Miklosi and Naroditsky attributed Ottawa’s overrepresentation in canoe and kayak events to their talented coaching team and their enduring emphasis on technique over sheer pace.

“Everyone has their own style,” Naroditsky joked. “I guess ours is better because we have so many people on the team.”

Another Team Ontario paddler was involved in an exceptionally unique finish. Toronto’s Owen MacLean and Nova Scotia’s Alex Erith-Ellwood paddled a full kilometre and wound up tied for the gold medal in the men’s K-1 1,000 m right down to the thousandth of a second with identical clockings of 4:14.311.

Lowry struggled to keep flag bearer honour a secret

Not long after Isabel Lowry arrived in St. John’s, a coach pulled her aside and told her she had an important interview request.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, another one?’” Lowry recounts.

She expected (ahem) another long-winded interview about how it felt to be at the Canada Games and the like. Instead, something unexpected happened.

“She was like, ‘L-O-L, you’re a flag bearer.’” Lowry said. “And I was like ‘What?’”

“Yeah, and then she kept it a secret from us,” Beauregard nudged her.

Lowry apparently wasn’t very subtle about it. Although she was instructed not to tell anyone for 24 hours, she proceeded to loudly tell her teammates she had a secret she absolutely positively couldn’t share.

“‘I can’t even tell my mom?’” she asked the Canada Games representative.

Lowry had expected to have a partner at the ceremony and was quite startled to learn she would be carrying the flag alone. When the time came, she entered the arena wearing a big grin, waving the flag to Dvbbs and Borgeous’ Tsunami.

Jordyn Richardson wins swim medals during Ottawa’s very busy day in St. John’s

Ottawa athletes competed in piles of medal and preliminary events alike Monday. First up, swimmer Jordyn Richardson, Ottawa’s youngest athlete here in Newfoundland, won the bronze medal in the women’s 50 m freestyle with a time of 26.58, just behind Kelly Choi and Olivia Zhou of B.C.

The 13-year-old Ottawa Youth Olympians swimmer was then tasked with swimming the anchor leg for the mixed 4×100 m medley relay. Richardson came through despite a hard-charging effort by B.C.’s Choi as they finished in a dead heat with a time of 4:03.27. Both teams were awarded gold medals.

Deniz Capraz swam in the men’s 400 m individual medley. The Sunday relay bronze medal winner placed fourth in his heat in a time of 4:43.13 and did not advance to the finals.

In sailing, Brodie Sorensen is tied for first place with Enzo Biello of Quebec in the men’s single-handed ILCA event standings, finishing his first two races in second and third place. Britannia Yacht Club counterpart Evania Lovshin, who lives in Chelsea and represents Quebec, placed 10th in her first race but proceeded to win her second, leaving her in sixth place overall. They will both compete in eight more races, after which their placings will be tallied up.

Godson Okokoh, who scored 10 points, and Capital Courts Academy’s Emannuel Okoh-Oboh earned an 88-73 tournament-opening win over Quebec with Ontario’s men’s basketball team. In the women’s event, CCA’s Daniella Appoh helped her Quebec team to an 81-68 win over Alberta.

Team Gushue Highway was closed today for road cycling, in which full-time firefighting student and summertime park ranger Cadie Geertsema of The Cyclery earned a top-10 finish in 10th out of 33 competitors in the women’s individual time trial.

Kyleigh Payne stopped 27 of 30 shots in the Ontario women’s box lacrosse team’s 5-3 victory over Alberta. Ontario improved to 2-1 with the win.

Finally, the Ontario men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams both played their opening preliminary games this morning. Grace Dingwall, Ainsley McDonell and ShonDreya Smardon helped the women’s team score a combined 139 points, shutting out P.E.I., Manitoba and Yukon consecutively.

Smardon and McDonell had a try apiece against PEI and Dingwall had a try and two converts. Smardon registered a hat trick of trys in the Manitoba game, with four converts from Dingwall. McDonell touched down a try against Yukon and Dingwall had a try and a convert.

Declan Crew-Gee, Jack Priestman and the men’s side fared about as well, winning their games 40-5, 43-0 and 36-0 against New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Crew-Gee scored a try in the win over Manitoba and Priestman got a try against Saskatchewan.

Day 4 Preview: Rugby player’s passion fuelled by family – of the blood and Barrhaven Scottish variety

The Ontario rugby sevens teams plowed through their three opponents on the first day of action, but their toughest competition lies ahead at the Canada Summer Games.

No one understands that better than Jack Priestman, who is fresh off winning a 15s national U19 title with Team Ontario a few short weeks ago.

At that tournament in Calgary, everything was a dress rehearsal for the final against British Columbia. Priestman and the Ontario Blues won every game, with their average margin of victory being more than 37 points. But the province that is home to Rugby Canada’s national team programs kept it close in the championship game in a 25-21 defeat to Ontario.

“I was kind of nervous going into it. It was out of my comfort zone, but I started getting into the groove of it and started laying some hits,” Priestman recalled in an interview with the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Tyler Reis-Sanford. “In the finals, I had a pretty good run as soon as I got out there. I took it probably 50 metres. We ended up kicking for points, but that was probably the highlight in that final game for me.”

The selection to Team Ontario’s U19 squad was Priestman’s first ever, but the Barrhaven Scottish forward is far from new to the game of rugby.

“I started when I was about three years old, I played for a couple years,” recounted Priestman. “I jumped back into it around Grade 5 and I’ve been playing ever since.”

At this point in his career, playing for the Scottish isn’t just like playing with family, it is family. Not just because Priestman has been a part of the squad for so long, but because practically his entire household suits up for the Scottish. His brother and sister both play for the club, and his mom coaches his sister’s U16 squad.

Priestman said it’s nice to have everyone involved, and noted that the Ottawa rugby community is also incredibly supportive of each other, even after facing off as opponents at Twin Elm Rugby Park on Saturday afternoons.

“Anytime you play, everything gets left on the field. It’s all light-hearted. There’s no hard feelings,” highlighted Priestman. “If you’re playing with the senior men’s squad, you’re going to the pub, you’re getting beers with the other team after. We’re very tight-knit. All the clubs know each other, especially at Twin Elm.”

Priestman said the experience of playing in the U19 nationals was helpful in giving him confidence, but he recognizes that sevens and 15s are completely different games.

“In 15s, it’s all about keeping territory. In sevens, it’s all about possession,” explained Priestman. “No matter what, you want to keep the ball, because it’s only seven minutes (per half), and if you lose the ball, that could be game over for you.”

The Team Ontario forward has switched away from his usual position at flanker to play a “pace prop” role in Newfoundland. The position requires both size and speed. Priestman needs not just to win scrums for Ontario, but also run the sideline like a wing might do in 15s.

“Having that back experience definitely helps,” highlighted Priestman. “It helps being able to see where gaps will open, where I can move the ball and coordinate with my teammates to manipulate the defence.”

In the fall, Priestman will be joining the back-to-back defending Ontario University Athletics-champion Guelph Gryphons as he works towards a degree in water resources engineering.

But his sights are first set on capturing gold for Team Ontario at the Canada Summer Games. He’s joined on the Ontario men’s squad by Scottish clubmate Declan Crew-Gee, while Scottish counterparts ShonDreya Smardon and Grace Dingwall are competing for the Ontario rugby sevens women along with Ainsley McDonell of the Ottawa Irish.

“As a team, we want to go out there and just dominate,” Priestman underlined. “We want to go out there and play our hardest every game and show what it means to be from Ontario.”

B.C. and Ontario are in opposite pools in both the men’s and women’s tournaments and would be unlikely to meet until the championship finals Wednesday evening.

Quebec is another traditionally strong rugby province – Quebec will meet the Ontario women in their final pool match Tuesday and could offer the Ontario men a semi-final test come Wednesday. The men face fellow unbeaten side Alberta to conclude pool play.

Other local athletes in action Tuesday:

National U16 champion Josh Adamson will again put his ever-growing unbeaten run on the line in the tennis mixed team competition as Ontario faces a fellow 2-0 foe from Quebec.

Evania Lovshin and Brodie Sorensen of the Britannia Yacht Club will again set sail for a pair of Tuesday races on the Conception Bay seas.

Reinaldo Abraham and Luca Ugarte of Ottawa South United took a dip in the sea themselves after Ontario’s sweltering opening-day soccer victory. They’ll face B.C. at a different venue Tuesday evening.

Ontario women’s box lacrosse goaltender Kyleigh Payne closes pool play against Nova Scotia in the morning, while Godson Okokoh and Emmanuel Oko-Oboh of the 1-0 Ontario men’s basketball team will face B.C. in the evening.

With a bronze medal apiece already, the swimming competition continues for Ottawa’s Jordyn Richardson and Deniz Capraz. Richardson, who also owns a fresh relay gold medal, is expected to race the women’s 50 m backstroke, while Capraz could again see relay action for the men’s 4×100 m freestyle relay.

And after their five-medal opening day, the Ontario team featuring 11 local paddlers will be back for more on the second of four straight days of canoe-kayak competition.

Ottawa at the Canada Games Daily Newsletter

A huge team of 48 Ottawa athletes is competing at the St. John’s 2025 Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland. The Ottawa Sports Pages will be sending out a free daily email newsletter with recaps, previews and profiles throughout the Aug. 9-24 national youth multi-sport event.

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