Posted: July 25, 2005

Paralympics: Chantal Petitclerc unbeatable at Canadian Paralympic Athletics Championships

REGINA-Chantal Petitclerc of Montreal earned her fifth gold medal on Sunday with a victory in the women's 400-metre wheelchair race to conclude the Canadian Paralympic Athletics Championships at the Canada Games Athletic Complex.

Petitclerc, a quintuple gold medallist as well at the Paralympic Games in Athens last year, clocked 57.42 seconds in the race finishing comfortably ahead of Diane Roy of Sherbrooke Que., in second at 1:00.46. Petitclerc also won the 100 on Friday and the 200, 800 and 1,500 on Saturday.

"It was a reasonable time considering the wind and the track," said Petitclerc of her 400 race. "I wasn't too stressed for this competition and I just tried to have satisfying races, focus on the task at hand and work on some things. Now I've got three weeks before the European championships and I'm looking forward to training at home to prepare."

World champion Chelsea Clark of Mississauga, Ont., and double Paralympic champion Lisa Franks of Saskatoon also completed a big weekends with victories in their respective 400-metre races for their third and fourth gold medals respectively. Monique Hartin of Peterborough, Ont., took the discus event in the T-36 category.

On the men's side, France Gagne of Quebec City won the men's T-36 discus with his best throw measured at 44.12 metres, a distance which would have been worth a bronze at the Paralympic Games last year.

In the men's 400 races, winners were Jason Dunkerley of Ottawa in the T-11 category, Stuart McGregor of Ottawa in T-13, Andre Beaudoin of Montreal in T-52, Brent Lakatos of Dorval, Que., in T-53 and Colin Mathieson of Winnipeg in T-54.

"Our top athletes showed that they are ready for the European championships which is the big international meet of the year for us with no Paralympics," said Jean Laroche of Sherbrooke, head coach for Athletics Canada's Paralympic Programs. "That's a good sign that they performed despite the slow track. It didn't change anything. So there were no surprises in terms of the winners but we saw some new faces finishing second and third."

The European Paralympic Championships are August 17-28 at Espoo, Finland.