Posted: July 20, 2005

Paralympics: Canadian Paralympic Athletics Championships launches busy stretch for Canada’s top track and field athletes with a disability

REGINA-Canada’s top track and field athletes with a disability including Chantal Petitclerc of Montreal and Jeff Adams of Toronto will launch the most important part of their seasons this Friday to Sunday at the Canadian Paralympic Athletics Championships.

The competition takes place at the Canada Games Athletic Complex. Regina hosts the Canada Games, which includes events for athletes with a disability, August 6-20.

“This is the only time we get to see our athletes compete solely against each other,” said Jean Laroche of Sherbrooke, Que., head coach of Athletics Canada’s Paralympic Programs. “It should provide us with an interesting perspective on where they stand at this point in the season.”

Most of the big name entries this weekend are tuning up for the European Paralympic Championships August 17-28 in Espoo, Finland.

Adams, a five-time Paralympian, is also scheduled to race the 200-metre demonstration event at the IAAF Track and Field Championships in Helsinki on August 14. At the nationals this weekend he is entered in the 200, 1,500 and 5,000 metre wheelchair races.

“The Canadian racing scene is so fast right now that the nationals are going to be a very good test,” said Adams.

Traditionally at the worlds, the demonstration event is the 1,500 but with Finland’s top wheelchair racer a sprinter, the distance was changed. Adams isn’t too bothered about it.

“I’m actually a natural sprinter,” said Adams. “So the change hasn’t really altered my training or my preparation plans for this season.”

Adams’ top rivals in the sprint at nationals include Daniel Normandin of Montreal and Colin Mathieson of Winnipeg and in the distance events, Michel Filteau of St-Jean-Baptiste, Que., and Carl Marquis of Sherbrooke.

On the women’s side, Petitclerc and Diane Roy of Sherbrooke are expected to battle for the gold medal in most of the track events.

Petitclerc hasn’t lost a beat since her quintuple gold medal performance at the Paralympic Games last year in Athens. She won five gold medals on the recently completed America Series circuit and two more gold at the Paralympic World Cup in May.

But Roy is hot on Petitclerc’s heels this year. She won three races in the America Series and has beaten Petitclerc head-on a handful of times this year.

“I’ve gained a lot of confidence this year,” said Roy, who’ll race the 400, 800, 1,500 and 5,000 at nationals. “My training has gone well and it’s just been a much more pleasurable experience for me. Chantal and I really feed off each other and it’s been a healthy rivalry. In each race it always comes down to may the best one win.”

The key race for the wheelchair racers is the 800 metre. The nationals are the first qualification for the event which will be part of the official program at the Commonwealth Games this March. Roy, Petitclerc and Jessica Matassa of Windsor, Ont., are in a solid position to go to the Games.

Another big name wheelchair racer is Chelsea Clark of Mississauga, Ont., who is coming off a quadruple gold medal performance on the track at the world championships for athletes with cerebral palsy which took place in New London, Connecticut two weeks ago. She is preparing for a new challenge at the European Paralympic championships where her classification will be upgraded from T34 to T53.

“I don’t like to set goals for myself for a competition,” said Clark, who expects to race the 100, 200 and 400 at nationals. “When I start doing that, I just get rattled. The new classification for the Europeans has been pretty controversial in our circles. It comes down to a numbers game. But I’ll probably become the chaser rather than the one being chased. It’s something I won’t be used to.”

Other names to watch include Dean Bergeron of Quebec City and Lisa Franks of Saskatoon in the quadriplegic races, Jacques Martin of Sherbrooke in the throwing events for paraplegics and France Gagné of Quebec City and Courtney Knight of Burnaby, B.C., in the men’s and women’s throwing events for the visually impaired. Martin is also in position to go to the Commonwealth Games.

Action is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. (all times local) on Friday July 22; two sessions are scheduled for Saturday with the first from 9 a.m. to noon then the second from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. On Sunday, events run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.