Toronto Olympic Club

Friday, July 4, 2008

Canada Fifth in Women's Junior Team Standings at Cross Country Running Worlds

EDINBURGH, Scotland (March 30, 2008) - Canada placed fifth in the women's junior team standings on Sunday at the cross country running world championships.

The Canadian team members were Kendra Schaaf of Craven, Sask., Paula Findlay of Edmonton, Danelle Woods of Ottawa, Lindsay Carson of Cambridge, Ont., Geneviéve Lalonde of Moncton, N.B., and Tamara Jewett of Toronto. They placed 20^th, 23^rd, 25^th, 31^st, 36^th, and 55^th respectively in the individual six kilometre race.

"It's a great team result, we knew we had a strong team," said Schaaf, 17, competing at her first worlds. "It was good to have raced internationally. A really good experience."

In the men's junior eight kilometre race, Kenya placed four runners in the top-10 for the team victory. Canada was seventh in the team standings with Matthew Leeder of Brockville, Ont., Aleksandr Kuternin of Toronto, Mohammed Ahmed of St. Catharines, Ont., Matthew Hughes of Oshawa, Ont., and Nyial Majock and Peter Corrigan, both of Calgary. They placed 30^th, 50^th, 51^st, 57^th, 60^th and 66^th individually. Ibrahim Jeilan of Ethiopia won the gold.

"We're pretty surprised with such a strong team result," said Leeder, who improved 30 spots over last season individually. "We were second to last in 2007. But we talked before the race and we felt it was our best team in the last five years. In my own race, I just got consistently faster in each lap and passed eight guys in the final lap."

In the men's 12 kilometre race, Kenenisa Bekela completed the Ethiopian golden sweep with the victory. James Gosselin of South Porcupine, Ont. was the top Canadian in 91^st,. Joel Bourgeois of Grande-Digue, N.B., 96^th, Alex Hutchinson of Toronto 117^th, Dylan Wykes of Kingston, Ont., 130^th, Derek Nakluski of Kitchener, Ont., 139^th, Spencer Morrison of Vancouver 144^th, Colin Fewer of Harbour Main, N.L., 146^th, Cleve Thorson of Port Elgin, Ont., 151^st, and Trevor Caldwell of Mississauga, Ont., 160^th. Canada was 14^th in the team standings.

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June 10 - Espoir Team Staff Named

The OTFA is pleased to announce the makeup of the team staff for the Ontario Summer Games/Eastern Canadian Espoir Team Championships in Ottawa in August. Congratulations to the selected members and thank you to all who applied for positions.

Team Leader	Dave Christiani, Toronto Olympic Club
Manager	Paula Jones
Sprints/Hurdles Coaches	Craig Blackman, Kurt Downes
Distance Coaches	Rob Grepe, Toronto Olympic Club, Chris Moulton
Jumps Coaches	Leslie Estwick, Kevin Dinardo
Throws Coaches	Sylvia Kontra, Richard Parkinson