Royal City Athletics has come a long way in such a short time.
The local club, which formed in 2020, will be well represented on the world stage, as six athletes have been selected to compete at the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris July 26 to Aug. 11.
Jacqueline Madogo will compete in the women’s 100 and 200 metre races, and the 4x100 metre relay.
Zoe Sherar is in the women’s 400 metre and the 4x400 metre relay. Craig Thorne is in the men’s 110 metre hurdle event.
Jazz Shukla is competing in the women’s 800 metre event, and Lucia Stafford – the lone Olympic returnee from the club – is in the women's 1500 metre race.
Jesse Zesseu will compete at the Paralympics Aug. 28 to Sept. 8 in the discus throw.
Madogo, Sherar, Thorne and Zesseu have made Guelph their home, while Shukla and Stafford both commute in from Toronto to train.
“It’s a lot of work, but it’s good meaningful work,” Royal City coach Jason Kerr said.
“Honestly, it’s a privilege to work with people that have this combination of physical and psychological abilities.”
It also helps that everyone gets along. While individualistic at the starting line, the preparation brings about the team chemistry.
“I get to travel with Zoe and Craig a lot, so we go through a journey that not a lot of people get to experience, and that’s always great to have friends with you," Madogo said.
“They make the ride so fun. We have a lot of fun together, we laugh a lot. They’re my people.”
“We’re pretty full on here,” Sherar added. “We’re five to six days a week, four to five hours for a practice. We usually have a couple key sessions a week, then some tempo days, then some pool days.”
Coach Paul Galas said it’s amazing to see how quickly the club has grown.
“We’re definitely excited for the future,” he said. “I think this is definitely just the beginning of what we hope to be, a prolonged success here in Guelph.”
JACQUELINE MADOGO
Born and raised in Ottawa, Madogo grew up playing soccer and didn’t really think about track.
Her one track experience in high school saw her win an OFSAA bronze medal in the 100 metre event in 2017.
She was recruited to the University of Guelph to play for the women’s soccer team a couple years later, but transitioned to the track in her second year.
“I think talking to my parents and my support system, we had ultimately decided that ‘you have a chance here to kind of build something and potentially make national teams, and potentially make major games or world championships,’” the 24-year-old said of the decision.
“That wasn’t really realistic in the sense of soccer, so ultimately having that conversation with (soccer head coach) Shayne (Campbell) was very sad, but he was super supportive. To this day, he’s one of my biggest supporters and always in my corner.”
Madogo has captured gold medals at the university level, and won a national title in the 200 metre in 2023.
Now, it’s the biggest honour of all for Madogo, representing Canada as an Olympian.
“It was pretty special,” she said of getting the call. “I think everyone dreams about going to the Olympics, but sometimes it just stays a dream. But for me, it became a reality and it was a surreal moment."
ZOE SHERAR
Sherar comes from a family of athletes. Both her mother and father ran track at the university level in the 1980s.
Her dad Michael founded the Royal City Athletics Club.
Zoe got into track at a young age, and did it for fun in elementary school in her hometown of Toronto. In high school, she joined a club to do it competitively. The opportunities started coming after she started at U of G in the fall of 2017.
“My first year was definitely an adjustment,” she said. “Second year, I started to take it a little bit more seriously and realized that there were lots of opportunities. You could travel around the world racing, which was pretty cool. It’s been an exciting time, and I don’t think that I would have pictured this for myself five years ago, or maybe six years ago.”
Zoe’s trophy case is loaded with medals at the U Sports level. She won 12 national championships and five team titles with U of G.
“In my opinion, she’s the greatest Gryphon athlete, in any sport, of all time,” Kerr said of the 24-year-old.
“I think it’s starting to settle in now,” Sherar said of being nominated for Paris.
“Definitely there was a period after Olympic trials where it felt super surreal, super exciting and I was just kind of going through all the emotions.”
She is ranked 24th of 48 athletes in the 200 metre heading into the games.
“I think a good goal for me in the individual 400 would be to make the semifinal,” Sherar said. “It’s a competitive field, but I think definitely an achievable goal.”
As for the team relay, coming off a bronze medal performance in the Bahamas for world relays, the goal is to bring home a medal in that event. She said it’s a big goal but thinks it is doable.
CRAIG THORNE
Thorne moved to Guelph in 2019 from Quispamsis, New Brunswick, a town of around 18,000 people near Saint John.
The biological sciences student was recruited to U of G, and saw hurdling as a unique way of sprinting.
“Thought it was this perfect mix of technical prowess and speed,” Thorne said. “I just was instantly hooked. Ever since then, I’ve just loved it every day.”
“He’s a very unique creature, I think, in the sense that he has an uncanny ability to compete,” Kerr said of Thorne.
“He’s not someone who gets caught out by the moments or the stress or nervous anxiety that a lot of people feel with the pressure of competitions. He flourishes in that environment.”
At 23, he is living in Guelph and training full time while going to school.
“I think I’m in the best shape of my life right now, and I feel mentally, emotionally, physically prepared for (Paris),” Thorne said. “Would love to get in there and just run the best I ever ran. I think it’s a realistic possibility, and whatever happens after that happens.”
JESSE ZESSEU
Born in Cameroon, he came to Canada with his parents at the age of five.
He was born with cerebral palsy on his left side after having a stroke at birth. Zesseu can use 60 to 70 per cent of his right side.
It didn’t stop the 25-year-old from participating in athletics growing up.
“I was decent, I went to OFSAA for track and stuff as well too, but I didn’t know that my disability was available in the Paralympics, I didn’t even know about the Paralympics at all.”
When he was working for Cerebral Palsy Ontario, he was asked about what sports he did.
He was told his race times in high school would’ve qualified him for the Paralympics in Rio in 2016.
“That fast tracked me from 2021 to now to get on the high performance list and get classified, Zesseu said.
Paris has been a goal since then, and he has reached that goal.
“I’m just super proud of myself, proud of my family," he said.
