Sudbury – and Laurentian University track, to be more specific – played / will play host to the Royal Canadian Legion Ontario Provincial (Track & Field) Championships in both 2026 and 2027.
Canvassing the more than 250 athletes who gathered from various parts of the province this past weekend, I came across the standard distribution that one might expect – for the most part: i) a cross-section of local and northern Ontario athletes thrilled to compete at home in front of family and friends; ii) a large swath of out-of-town youngsters enjoying Sudbury hospitality for the very first time; iii) and the occasional unicorn who encompassed elements of both groups.
One of a nice handful of the Air Blastoff trained competitors, Ash’Li Nixon was thrilled to shave some three seconds off her personal best time in the 300m dash, her clocking of 41.94 seconds earning the District H representative a top eight finish.
In outdoor circles, the 300m distance is pretty much limited to the RCL (Royal Canadian Legion) series of meets – though it’s also a staple of the indoor circuits. “When I first started (with the 300m), I thought it was going to be more like the 400m – but it really wasn’t,” said Nixon, who was joined at the event by her twin sister, Ay’Den.
(highlight for the Nixon family was no doubt both girls qualifying for the 100m final, with Ay’Den fourth in 12.68 and Ash’Li sixth in 12.78 seconds)
“It’s way closer to the 200m than the 400m. But really, it’s its own event.”
Though the Nixon twins competed the trifecta in tandem (U16 100m/200/300m), the feeling to this point is that Ay’Den holds the upper hand in the 100m while Ash’Li is a tad faster in the 200m and 300m. Both girls preparing for their grade 10 year at St Charles College are, however, completely fixated on the technical refinements required to shave even the smallest of incremental times from their PBs in the sprints.
“My hands and my knees: those have changed a lot over the course of time I have been with my track coach (Robert Esmie),” said Ash’Li. “My hands are up to my cheeks and down to my waist. My hand meets the leg now.”
“Knees up and arm meets the leg and Robert will be happy,” she added with a smile.
For as much as the Nixon twins are very quickly making a name for themselves in track and field circles in Sudbury, most local fans are likely still unaware of 14 year-old speedster Sawyer Nicholson. The grade 10 Stouffville native and student at Bill Crothers Secondary School is one of the many guests to the city who are well worth keeping an eye on for the next few years at the least.
A national silver medal winner in the U16 1500m steeplechase at Royal Canadian Legion Championships last summer in Calgary, Nicholson also won gold in the novice girls division at the 2025 OFSAA Cross-Country Championships in Brampton.
“I am leaning more towards long distance, but I still like doing the 800m occasionally,” said the member of Etobicoke Track who was donning the District E singlet on Saturday in Sudbury. “I feel that I like track more (than XC) because I like going for a time, running fast and knowing my splits.”
“But I do like cross-country for the opposite reason, that sometimes you don’t worry about your time and just go.”
Nicholson also earned a silver medal in the U16 2000m race, her time of 6:20.82 just back of race winner Katerina Mihaiescu from Aurora.
“Honestly, this outdoor season has been a bit rocky because of injuries,” said Nicholson. “Indoor was just really, really good, so it’s kind of hard to top it – but I have had a bunch of pretty decent races.”
If Nixon and Nicholson represent the near and far of the lure of the Provincial Legions, Evie Ashcroft embraces elements of both. Calling Sudbury home typically every summer from the beginning of June through until mid-August, Ashcroft represented District H in the 800m and 1500m events.
This after enjoying a very solid winter / spring with her school track and field team, the St John’s Mavericks in Houston (Texas). With long-standing family ties to the Sudbury region, the elder of the two Ashcroft siblings gradually made her way over to the track from her first competitive outlet in the Lone Star State.
“I started with (field) lacrosse when I was four or five and didn’t take running seriously until I joined the cross-country team at middle school in grade 7,” said Ashcroft, who like her brother Noah was determined to find some sort of physical activity passtime to mix in with many of visit to her grandparents place on Long Lake.
“It was just for fun, to get in shape for lacrosse. The very first meet, I actually medalled and started to take it more seriously.”
Still, Ashcroft still finds time to mix in both of her favourite sports, heading to Poland for a lacrosse tournament in November. In the meantime, she is under the watchful eye of coach Esmie and his middle distance coaching co-hort K.C. Gallo, seeking to find that sweet spot for their temporary import.
“I run the 400m, 800m and 1500m, but consider myself more of an 800m specialist because my times in the 800m are much more competitive,” said Ashcroft, quite pleased with her 2:24.96 clocking at Laurentian this past weekend.
That said, she did acknowledge that the inherent challenge of the cascading starting line with a 12-runner 800 metre race (her Texas meets sometimes will squeeze in as many as 20 runners in a single 800m heat) can present some inherent problems off the start.
“For me, I want to get out fast on that first lap,” she said. “It can make or break your race if you get caught in a bottleneck. Then it’s a struggle to get back in with the front of the pack. Cutting in on that first corner is probably strategically the most important part of the race.”
Top-end performances from Sudbury-based athletes included Francis Mallory (3rd in U18 long jump – 6.58 metres), Rowan Frood (3rd in U18 400m hurdles – 1:07.99; 4th in U18 100m hurdles – 15.56) and Yuvraj Singh (4th in U16 800m – 2:01.23* - new PB).
