Coaches to be honoured

Derek Drouin coached by Joel Skinner

OTTAWA – Athletics Canada is proud to announce that Ian Clark, Peter Lawless, Joel Skinner and Ben Warnock will be recognized this evening amongst a group of deserving coaches at the Petro -Canada Coaching Excellence Awards.

The awards are presented as part of the Coaching Association of Canada’s Sport Leadership conference in Montreal, Quebec. The coaching Excellence Awards are presented annually to coaches whose athletes won medals over the past year at open World Championships, Olympic Games, Paralympic Games or World Games.

Ian Clark, a level 3 NCCP certified coach, coaches Jason Dunkerley and his guide runner Josh Karanja. Dunkerley and Karanja have been under Clark’s tutelage for two years, the duo won two medals, both in Canadian record times, at the 2012 Paralympic Games this summer.

Peter Lawless has been involved in high performance sport for more than 20 years; he coached Michelle Stilwell to gold and silver medals at the London Paralympic Games.  Stilwell holds world records in the T52 classification wheelchair 100, 200 and 400-metres.

Joel Skinner, level 4 NCCP certified coach, is head coach of the Sarnia Athletics Southwest Track and Field Club.  This summer Joel helped to coach Derek Drouin to a bronze medal in the high jump at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Ben Warnock coached Virginia McLachlan to a pair of medals at the Paralympic Games.  McLachlan won bronze in the T35 classification 100 and 200-metres.  She was born with cerebral palsy and was introduced to track and field as way to make her therapy more enjoyable. Warnock, who has been coaching her for six years, is currently pursuing his master’s in Biomechanics at the University of Windsor

Brendon Restall and coach Bowen recipients of 2012 FACE program

Brendon Restall of Victoria, B.C., and coach Dacre Bowen have been named recipients of the 2012 FACE program which aims to help provide funding to developing Olympic and Paralympic athletes and their coaches.  The duo will each receive $8,000.  Each year 50 Canadian athlete and coach pairings are indentified as part of the Petro-Canada’s Fuelling Athlete and Coaching Excellence (FACE) program.