By Chris Galakoutis
Thursday, October 26 2006 10:54:36 AM
Nicolas Macrozonaris’ name appears on a just released Athletics Canada Athlete Assistance Program Nomination List for 2006/2007.
What this means is that after a year in which Macrozonaris received no financial assistance whatsoever from the Canadian federation, he will once again be eligible to be covered by a program that includes a monthly federal paycheck of roughly $1500 Cdn. as well as other entitlements, such as physio and massage therapy.
With negotiations on a potential transfer to Greece hitting delays, legal snags and an October 31 looming deadline, it appears that he will, for now, be staying put in Canada.
Macrozonaris expressed relief yesterday upon learning the carding news, but that was all. He certainly will not be humming along to the Beatles classic “Give Peace A Chance” any time soon.
At least not as far as Athletics Canada is concerned, whom he holds responsible for a lost year – one where he even considered giving up the sport.
Yet despite all the difficulties, he managed to win a 3rd Canadian Championship last summer in Ottawa - a win he cherishes as one of his most memorable.
Injury free and training at total capacity for the first time in a long time, Macrozonaris has been preparing for the upcoming indoor season since late last month, planning to run indoors as soon as the McGill University indoor meets in Montreal get under way.
He and coach Daniel St-Hilaire have been focusing primarily on strength training of late, while next week the focus will shift to working on explosiveness and acceleration.
It has been three years since Macrozonaris has enjoyed much of any notable success on the track, if measured by fast times. His personal bests were all achieved in 2002-2003; he ran 6.56 seconds for 60m indoors in late November 2002 and followed that up in May of 2003 with his outdoor best of 10.03 sec.
Since that time and injuries aside, he has worked out with a group in Florida as well as the Ottawa group of coach Glenroy Gilbert, and has entertained offers to train in Europe as well as other locales in Canada and the US.
For the time being however, he has decided to stay put in Montreal under the tutelage of St-Hilaire, the man who led Macrozonaris to his successes three years ago.
Macrozonaris also told us that he has never been as excited about an upcoming season as he is this year, and that his goal is to break his indoor 60m mark early.
If he does that and manages to stay healthy, next summer’s 100m campaign promises to be very interesting.