Posted: June 21, 2005

Athletics: Lindsay Carson Shatters World Youth Standard at Runners' Choice London Distance Festival

Written by: Steve Weiler.

The 2nd Annual Runners' Choice London Distance Festival took place Sunday June 19th at TD Waterhouse Stadium on the University of Western Ontario campus. In typical fashion, 2004 Junior National 1,500m bronze medalist and UWO student-athlete Nathan DeWitt summed the night up very simply: "It's nice when you have a fast track, a good field, and perfect weather all in one race - plus the prizes were a nice bonus." DeWitt was just one of many athletes who achieved new personal best times on the fast track in London, running 3:57.14 to place 3rd behind Jose Carvalho and Andrew Coates in the Men's 1,500m.

The highlight of the night was undoubtedly the Women's 1,500m. Niagara Olympic Club teammates Kelsie Slater and Megan Stewart took the race out very hard, splitting 1:08 for the first 400m. National Youth Record holder in the event Alyson Kohlmeier then took over, leading to a 2:20 800m split. Moving up throughout the race was Grade 10 Lindsay Carson, who stunned spectators by closing on Kohlmeier over the final lap. Running well under the World Youth Standard of 4:35 and becoming the only youth in Canada to run under 4:30 so far this year, Carson was very happy. "The London Distance Festival gave me a great chance to qualify for the World Youth Games," said the 6 time OFSAA gold medalist after her blazing 4:27.87 clocking. "A fast track and a deep field in the 1500m allowed me to run a 9 second personal best! I'll be back next year!" Another grade 10, Danelle Woods of the Ottawa Lions also ran under the World Youth standard and moved up to 3rd in the country with her 4:32.23.

On the significant of grassroots efforts like this event, Race Director of the Cambridge Classic Mile John Carson offered the following: "The London Distance Festival, like the Cambridge Classic Mile, gives spectators and participants a chance to celebrate the sport of running. It is great to see prize money and other incentives offered to developing athletes. There are many sacrifices that post collegiate athletes must make in order to chace their athletic dreams. Canadian running needs corporate sponsorship in order to showcase heroes in our own communities - this mentoring process is essential to develop the 'next generation' of runners. Events that embrace this philosophy will be successfulon two levels - they will attract the top athletes and they will allow these athletes the chance to earn a few dollars which will continue to fuel this passion for excellence."

Other meet highlights include a 16:10 by Nicole Stevenson in the Women's 5,000m, top Canadian Junior Pierre-Luc Menard and 2-time US Olympian Allen James duking it out in the George Goulding Memorial 5,000m Racewalk, and Kurt Benning and Ryan McKenzie headlining the London Runner Men's High Performance 5,000m field that pulled high schoolers Jeremy Fisico and Kyle Dekker to times of 14:36 and 14:46, respectively.

A total of 16 athletes qualified for national junior, national senior, or world youth championships at this event. Full results are posted on LondonRunner.ca.