Race Video 

LONDON - Junior Jeremie Venne of the Saint Francis men's cross country and track and field teams, alongside teammate Jason Dunkerley, captured the silver medal in the 1500m T11 race at the World Paralympic Athletics Championships in London last Friday.

Venne was Dunkerley's guide runner, helping his teammate from the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club cross the line in a time of 4:13.67, just 2.13 seconds behind gold medalist Samwel Mushai Kimani of Kenya.


The T11 1500m final on Friday went as well as we could have imagined," said Venne. "We knew going into the race that the main teams we had to worry about were the Polish and Kenyan teams. When Jason and I crossed the finish line, we were ecstatic! With a little under 7 weeks of specific training for this event, Jason and I were quite happy with our accomplishment. Running at this elite level level in front of crowds of 20 000 people will be an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life."

"We're all real proud of what Jason and Jeremie were able to accomplish together," said Saint Francis cross country and track and field head coach Doug Hoover. "It was an exciting race. Jason made a move for the win with 600m to go but the world record-holder and Paralympic champion, Samwel Kimani of Kenya, responded with 300m to go and ran a great race for the win."
 
The Paralympic Games involve athletes with a range of disabilities, including impaired muscle power, range of movement, limb deficiency, short stature, hypertonia, ataxia, athetosis, vision impairment and intellectual impairment.

The World Paralympic Games hosts 1,300 athletes from 100 countries as athletes compete in 213 medal events. The event is the largest in London since the 2012 Summer Olympics.

To watch the race in its entirety, click on the link at the top of the page.