Each Year Team Triumph endeavors to give back to its community by raising funds for an organization or individuals in need of financial support. In 2020 Tokyo will be hosting the Olympics so we have decided that we would like to support our future Ontario Olympians! We have identified 3 young athletes who are in need of a little extra funding this year and we would like to share a little about each of them with you.
Our second featured athlete is Segun Makinde, Competitive Runner
Segun Makinde is a Canadian Track and field athlete, 2x Olympian, and 3x International medalist whose events include the 110m Hurdles, 200m, and 4x100m Relay. Born in Nigeria, Segun moved with his parents to Canada where he eventually fell in love with Track and Field after much persistence from his high school track coach. The rest, as they say, is history.
Since then Segun has gone on to represent Canada over 15 times at the International level, including the London 2012 Olympic Games, Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, IAAF World Championships and much more. He holds a bronze medal from the 2013 IAAF world championships, 2 gold medals at the 2013 Francophone Games and still holds the Canadian U Sport 4x200m record, and the OFSAA 200m high school record. He is a 7x National Medalist, 8x Provincial Champion and is also a recipient of the Ottawa Sports Award, the Ottawa Lions Outstanding Male Athlete award, the University of Ottawa GeeGees Directors Award, NCAO Positive Image Award, and was the closing ceremonies flag bearer for the 2013 Francophone Games. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing from the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa.
Segun believes that being an Olympian is more than just going to the Olympic Games and uses his unique Olympic perspective and experience to positively impact and inspire individuals and organizations to achieve the mental breakthroughs they need to do what they think is impossible, by tapping into their own “Inner Olympian”. Segun remains active in his hometown of Ottawa, ON area as a Community Ambassador for Christie Lake kids and as a member of the Athletics Canada Athlete Council as a way of giving back to the community and his sport.
Segun is currently preparing for the 2020 Olympic Games which will be held in Tokyo, Japan this July with the goal of bringing home a gold medal back of Ottawa later this year.
My coach Kevin Willis is amazing. His swim practices have been a real game-changer for me. A great communicator regardless of your swim level. The whole club is supportive of everything you do. You don't need to be an Ironman to benefit from their programs. 5 stars all around!!! - Denise Pittuck
I just wanted to thank you and your team (Gabi! Brenda! Maggie! Dawn!) for making last weekend's event so amazing. I had tried to do a try-a-tri on my own last summer, and the experience was night and day.
Even though I didn't make every virtual session, I felt so prepared... I knew where to go for information, and I knew I had a team of people (coaches and our beginner tri group!) who were all there to support me.
It was interesting to watch Eric train on his own (without access to the TrainingPeaks workouts and without the weekly meetings to ask questions and learn more about proper form and race-day stuff). When we left on Sunday, he looked at me and was like "we're DEFINITELY doing the training with Julia if we decide to go for the olympic distance, right?".
So glad to have found this club and looking forward to many more triathlons in the near future!!! Tai Teleso
Julia is incredible, I once had a coach who told me to get good at biking and running as he couldn't do anything with my swim technique. Then I was introduced to Julia who is so patient and has an amazing ability to translate it all into a way I could understand. I knocked a minute per 100m off my open water swim times after only a handful of sessions with her. The team is also really welcoming, inclusive and most of all FUN!
