The 2021 Outdoor Championships wrapped up this past weekend with the completion of the 2021 Rising Stars Festival featuring U8, U10, U12 and U14 athletes. The festival was held at three separate venues, as the Ray Lewis Track and Field Facility in Hamilton played host to the West Region, the Toronto Track and Field Centre in Toronto hosted the Central Region and Thousand Island Secondary School in Brockville hosted the East Region.

The action in the Central and East Regions got underway on Saturday, August 28th. In Brockville, the meet showcased some outstanding performances. In the U8 division, Griffin Koekkoek dominated the field taking home the gold in the 60m (11.59s), 150m (29.50s), Standing Long Jump (1.69m) and Ball Throw 20.67m). Sinead Gomes highlighted the weekend. She turned in a successful weekend, taking gold in the 60m (10.33s), the 150m (26.93s) the 600m (2:10.40), the 1000m (4:02.72), while also taking the Long Jump with a distance of 3.01m.  

The U12 division was buoyed by a great battle between Hannah Reilly and Charlotte Mills. In the 80m, Reilly was able to beat out Mills by just over a second. In the 150m, Reilly edged out Mills again claiming her second gold of the weekend. Mills captured her first gold, winning the 300m (59.96s) and then beat out Reilly in the Long Jump to even up the gold medal count between the two. 

The meet in Toronto was highlighted by strong performances across the board. In the U14 division, the Durham Dragons’ brought home the team championship highlighted by Alexandra Jackson and her trio of gold medals in the 1200m (4:02.38), 800m (2:32.35) and the 4x400m relay which her team completed in 4:45.96s. The United Tamil Sports Club brought home the team gold in the U12 division on the shoulders of Santosh Balaramana and his gold in the High Jump (1.20m), and his silvers in the Long Jump (3.92m) and Shot Put (6.45m). 

The U10 division was highlighted by the performance of Nehemiah Esmie. The athlete from Airblastoff Lion finished third in the 60m (10.30s), third in the 60m hurdles (12.14s), third in the 150m (26.52s) and he took to the field where he finished eighth in the Long Jump (2.97m). Shania Modeste, from Eclipse Track and Field, stole the show in the U8 division. She was a two-time gold medalist on the day winning both the 150m (26.60s) and 60m (10.82s), respectively. 

The Central Region was also home to the Masters Throws Pentathlon. This had six men, spanning across five age categories, participate in Hammer Throw, Shot Put, Discus Throw, Javelin Throw, and Weight Throw. Jared Skeath (29 and under division) of SISU Throws Club finished the day with 3708 points. 

In Hamilton, West Region’s competition got underway on Sunday, August 29th. The U8 girls category was dominated by Bryanne Grenville. The Oakville Legion Track and Field athlete won gold in 60m (11.84s, -2.8 W) and 150m (30.69s, -0.1 W). The boys U10 division had an outstanding performance from Woodstock Legion’s Keltaj Rai. Rai placed third in the 60m (11.49s, -2.8W), second in the 600m (2:36.66), first in Long Jump (2.73m), and first in Shot Put (5.74m). 

The U12 girls category had a strong top-of-the-podium showing from the Stratford Sabrecats’ Chloe McCabe. McCabe won gold in the 300m (48:64), 600m (1:53.76) 1000m (3:27.20), and was part of the silver medal U14 4x100m relay team (1:00.11) where she raced in the age group above. The U14 boys division had great athleticism displayed, especially by Thorold Elite’s Evan Blake. Blake won gold in the 300m (47.20s), gold in Long Jump (4.05m, -0.8W), and fifth place in the 800m (2:41.47). 

We would like to give a special thank you to Steve Fife (Hamilton), Laura Sivers (Brockville), Leila Bahrami and Stephanie Hovdestad (Toronto) for organizing a great weekend of competition. We would also like to thank our amazing athletes, their coaches, our fantastic volunteers and of course, all of the Officials who have worked tirelessly to make our championship season happen! We hope to see you back on the track soon. 

Final Results (East) can be found >> HERE << 

Final Results (Central) can be found >> HERE <<

Final Results (West) can be found >> HERE <<

Photos from the weekend can be found on the Athletics Ontario Facebook page. The photo album will be continually updated as we receive photos from volunteer media throughout the week.