photo from Sport PEIBreakthrough year for Island athlete, coach
Nicholson, Page claim Sport P.E.I. awards
CHARLES REID
The Guardian Jen Nicholson and Lewis Page have firsthand knowledge about breakthroughs.
Both had them in 2009 and were rewarded at the annual Sport P.E.I. awards banquet Wednesday in Charlottetown.
Page was named coach of the year for his guiding work with P.E.I.’s 2009 Canada Summer Games men’s soccer team (a fifth-place finish) and with the UPEI Panthers men’s soccer team (a berth in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s soccer championship).
Nicholson, a distance runner, was named top masters athlete for a dominating and record-setting season on the regional marathon circuit.
Page and his Canada Games players engineered a 1-0 win over powerhouse Ontario in pool play and reached the quarter-final against Alberta.
It lost 4-1 to Alberta overtime, but regrouped with a 2-1 victory over New Brunswick for a fifth place finish — three spots better than 2005 in Regina, Sask.
UPEI lost in the Atlantic University Sport men’s soccer final in overtime to Cape Breton then lost two games at the CIS tournament.
So despite the what-could-have-been year, Page has good memories.
“The games against Ontario and the run with UPEI this fall was a close second,” said Page, who lives in Stratford.
And had P.E.I. soccer come of age with the victory over Ontario?
Page thought that’s possible.
“It certainly showed that we could compete with anyone at the national level and put us probably on the map.”
Nicholson, 41, moved to Cornwall five years ago with husband, Brett, and sons, Don and Matt (a daughter Lily was born here), from Halifax and never looked back.
She’s a two-time defending P.E.I. Marathon champion.
Last year, she crossed the finish line in 2:53:22 (a personal best) and crushing her winning mark in 2008 by nearly three minutes.
And that was only part of the show.
Nicholson finished eighth overall of 300 at the Blue Nose Marathon in Halifax with a time of 3:07, a full 16 minutes ahead of the second place female finisher and blew away the old course record.
She added three 10-kilomete wins and a 10-mile win, too.
“I’ve met some people that I’ve trained with and they had a lot of experience in (how to realize) my potential and pushing myself harder,” said Nicholson.
Pushing herself meant things like increasing mileage, interval (burst of activity followed by a recovery period) and tempo runs (timed warmup, run and cool down).
All leading to her monster year.
“And to be honest, this is my time,” said Nicholson.
Next up for Nicholson is the 2010 Ottawa Marathon on May 30 and the Island Marathon in October.
But she will skip Monday’s Boston Marathon because it’s too close to the Ottawa event.
Page will continue as P.E.I. Soccer Association technical director and as UPEI Panthers men’s soccer head coach.
He was an assistant with Canada’s CONCACAF women’s under-17 championship team and jets with that squad to the under-17 world championship in September in Trinidad and Tobago.
2010-04-15
D'Amour, Gallant Rink win big at Sport PEI Awards Banquet
It was an exciting evening at the Rodd Royalty Hotel in Charlottetown on Wednesday as Sport PEI presented the hardware for athletic excellence in 2009.
There were two big winners on the night - gymnast Matthieu D'Amour, who won a silver medal in the Canadian Senior Championships on vault, was named the Junior Male Athlete, and also the Lieutenant Governor's Award winner for Outstanding Island Athlete.
The Brett Gallant Curling Rink also picked up two awards - Team of the Year, and the Bill Halpenny Award for outstanding athletic performance on the international stage. Gallant's team won a silver medal at the World Junior Curling Championships in Vancouver.
Katie Baker from field hockey was named the Senior Female Athlete of the Year following a fine season for the Canadian national team, while sprinter Jared Connaughton - part of Canada's 4x100m relay team at the World Championships, was the senior male winner.
Emcees were Matt Rainnie of CBC, and JoAnne Holden. The event was sold out.
The full list of winners:
Bell Aliant Senior Male Athlete - Jared Connaughton (athletics)
Senior Female Athlete - Katie Baker (field hockey)
Rodd Hotels and Resorts Junior Female Athlete - Veronica Keefe (wrestling)
Egg Producers of PEI Junior Male Athlete - Matthieu D'Amour (gymnastics)
Paperflow Intercollegiate Male Athlete - Kurt McCormack (athletics)
Paperflow Intercollegiate Female Athlete - Ashley MacDonald (rugby)
Friendly Pharmacy Masters Athlete - Jen Nicholson (distance running)
Island Petroleum Team of the Year - Brett Gallant Rink (Curling)
Premier's Award - Volleyball PEI
President's Award - Joe Spriet
Bill Halpenny Award - Brett Gallant Rink (curling)
Chuckers Trophies and Awards Coach of the Year - Lewis Page (soccer)
PEI Mutual Official of the Year - Jeff MacRae (gymnastics)
ADL Adminstrator of the Year - Mark Bowlan (cycling)
Lieutenant Governor's Award - Matthieu D'Amour (gymnastics)
Belated Congratulations Jen!
My computer blew up on Wednesday and I've been in replace & repair mode ever since...
photo from Sport PEI
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=336801&sc=99
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