to move up and down
Uh oh. Olympic contenders have a new 100-metre competitor to fear: The kindergarten student.
Ottawa-born Joshua Cassidy was the surprise winner Monday of the men’s wheelchair race at the Boston Marathon.
Cassidy, 27, added to the emotional victory by setting a world and course record time of time one hour, 18 minutes 25 seconds for the 42.195-kilometre distance.
A freelance illustrator, Cassidy led from the five-kilometre mark. When the former Ottawa Marathon champion reached the top of the course’s Heartbreak Hill (32 kilometres), he started to focus on breaking the records.
“Once I got to the top of Heartbreak, I knew I could win the race,” said Cassidy, who got his start in Paralympic wheelchair racing with Bob Schrader and Amanda Fader at the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club.
It wasn’t much of a race, but then it really couldn’t have been as the world’s fastest man and Britain’s Prince Harry met up on a track Tuesday in the Jamaican capital.
The prince got off to a false start and was about 50 meters down the track as Usain Bolt bent over with laughter. The Olympic medalist then jogged up to Harry, making one of his signature skyward points for a crowd of onlookers at the University of the West Indies in the Jamaican capital.
Iraqi sprinter Dana Abdul-Razzaq exercises during a training session in Baghdad University.
At the worst of the violence in 2006-2007, athletes dodged sniper bullets at the Jadriya oval track in the heart of Baghdad. Now, groups of athletes race each other as children watch, and older men lazily walk around the track that encircles an uneven grass field. Photo: REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani
Flying high
Egypt’s Enas Mansour competes in the women’s long jump final during the Arab Games in Doha. REUTERS/Mohammed Dabbous
Getting a leg up
Mexican heptathlon athlete Karla Schleske competes in the women’s 100m hurdles discipline at the Pan American Games. Photo: MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/Getty Images
So, this is nuts: British long jumper J.J. Jegede jumps over three Mini cars, next to Tower Bridge, during an event to promote the car. Andrew Winning/Reuters
South Africa’s “Blade Runner” (Oscar Pistorius) runs his part in the 4 x 400m relay. David Gray/Reuters
Robert Harting of Germany celebrates his discus throw gold medal in Hulk-like fashion. Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
Dmitry Starodubtsev of Russia broke his pole during the Russian pole vault final on Aug. 29. He’s lucky he wasn’t on the cover of the daily program. Phil Noble/Reuters
