Speed River Track Club ceases operations

On Tuesday the Speed River Track Club announced that it would cease operations related to athlete training and development, as well as event hosting.

RELATED: University of Guelph fires head coach Dave Scott-Thomas

In a letter to members posted on the club’s website, general manager Scott MacDonald wrote, “Moving forward, there are initiatives underway to create a new training platform in which our top priority is to ensure continued programming for track and field athletes in our community in a fun, safe, and caring environment. As these plans develop, we will provide further details to you as soon as practical.

“As you are aware, the last few weeks have presented challenges for continued club management, and our registration portal was disabled for 2020. In the short term, we will refund those who had already completed their 2020 registrations.  In addition, we will unfortunately need to cancel our Winter Xtreme Team Program for kids aged 5-10. However, in the interim, training will continue at the University of Guelph, for those athletes in the Intermediate, Junior and Senior Groups as will be communicated to you by your coaches.”

This news follows the termination of former Guelph head coach Dave Scott-Thomas, who was also an integral member of the club. After an external review, the university issued the following statement on December 17:

“The University of Guelph has terminated its relationship with Dave Scott-Thomas, the head coach of its track and field program. Recently, the University received information from former and current track and field athletes regarding their experiences on the team. During the course of reviewing this information and in the last 24 hours, the University became privy to new information regarding past unprofessional conduct. The well-being of our student-athletes is a priority; the University does not tolerate conduct from its coaches that is inconsistent with the core values and beliefs of the University of Guelph and our University’s Coaches Code of Conduct.” Reports of professional misconduct date back as far as 2006.