March 25, 2007 (Charlo, New Brunswick) – Make it a clean sweep for Jean-Philippe Leguellec, who took the final gold medal in the senior men’s pursuit race at the 2007 Canadian Championships in Charlo, New Brunswick. The 21-year-old Olympian is heading home for the season with three gold medals and three new Canadian Championship titles.

A native of Valcartier, Que., Leguellec struggled in the first shooting bouts and found himself behind the leaders for the first few laps. Not succumbing to panic, “JP” as he is known on the team, kept to his race plan, posting only one miss in the final shooting bout and put himself back in the lead pack heading into the final lap. Leguellec snuck past François Leboeuf of Val Bélair, Que., who ended the day in the silver medal position and David Leoni of Camrose, Alta., who was third.

“This week has been so much higher than my expectations,” said Leguellec. “My goal coming in was top-five with potentially a podium finish. To leave here with three gold medals is beyond what I could have hoped for. Each race was challenging and exciting, and I am extremely satisfied to be ending the season this way.”

Zina Kocher of Red Deer, Alta., stood atop the podium for the first time of these Championships. Kocher has been fighting illness and jetlag after hopping a plane to Charlo from Russia earlier in the week. The 24-year-old managed to battle through the end-of-season fatigue to take the women’s title in the pursuit.

“My head was not really in the game this week,” said Kocher. “Shooting was definitely rough all week and today was no exception. I think the difference today was that I thought about it being the last race of the season, I felt strong on the last loop and just gave it everything I had left.”

In junior women’s action, Megan Imrie of Falcon Lake, Man., made her own sweep of the podium, claiming all three Junior women’s titles, including the gold medal in Sunday’s pursuit. Imrie was also named Manitoba’s Junior Athlete of the Year at the Canadian Sport Awards, Friday, in Winnipeg.

“It has been a really great weekend,” said Imrie. “I can’t think of a better way to end the season. After Canada Games, I did another tough week of training, and then took a mental break, so the first race my legs felt awesome and that has really made all the difference. I felt just as strong this week as I did at Junior World Championships. Added to that, was winning the award, which is a huge honour that I was not expecting. This week has been unbelievable. What a way to end my time as a junior athlete.”

Coming in behind Imrie in the silver medal position was Claude Godbout of Quebec, followed by Cindy Clark of Winnipeg in third. On the junior men’s side, Maxime Leboeuf of Val Bélair, Que., stayed on top of the junior men’s podium, taking the pursuit title over Marc-André Bédard of Valcartier, Que., by nearly two minutes.

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Senior Men
1. Jean-Philippe Leguellec of Valcartier, Que., 36:48.5
2. François Leboeuf, Val Bélair, Que., +6.1
3. David Leoni, Camrose, Alta., +34.3

Senior Women
1. Zina Kocher, Red Deer, Alta., 35:04.7
2. Marie-Pierre Parent, St-Paul de Joliette, Que., +6.3
3.Sandra Keith, Calgary, +13.8

Junior Women
1. Megan Imrie, Falcon Lake, Man., 36:54.8
2. Claude Godbout, Quebec, +6.3
3. Cindy Clark, Winnipeg, +2:12.4

Junior Men
1. Maxime Leboeuf of Val Bélair, Que., 35 :30.6
2. Marc-André Bédard, Valcartier, Que., +1:52.8
3. Yannick Letailleur, Edmonton, +2:33.5

Youth Men
1. Stuart Logde, Calgary, 33:01.4
2. Scott Gow, Calgary, +0.2
3. Kurtis Wenzel, Calgary, +18.6

Youth Women
1. Megan Tandy, Prince George, B.C., 28:11.0
2. Rosanna Crawford, Canmore, Alta., +1:23.1
3. Sarah Murphy, Canmore, Alta., +3:44.3

Senior Boys
1. Guillaume Carrier, Quebec, 26:06.6
2. Vincent Blais, Quebec, +16.6
3. David Gregoire, Quebec, +45.8

Senior Girls
1. Rose-Marie Cote, Quebec, 30:43.4
2.Audrey Vaillancourt, Quebec, +41.7
3. Yolaine Oddou, Quebec, +58.7.