Coaches

Dave has been coaching young athletes at the high school level for 45 years, and club athletes for 30+ years. Retired from teaching, Dave now coaches full time at the Central Toronto Athletic Club. As Head Coach at CTAC, Dave is responsible for coaching our recreational and competitive athletes from U14 to U20. He is also responsible for designing and overseeing the training programs for our CTAC athletes, and advising our coaching staff on the implementation of their programs.

Dave’s goal is to enable and inspire athletes of all ages, to maximize their potential and instill self-confidence by creating a relaxed and positive environment where athletes will succeed. Dave believes athletes achieve their full athletic potential in a structured and nurturing environment, and that they gain strength from the synergy that exists in a strong training group. Everyone improves at an accelerated rate.

Dave has coached 11 National Teams including head coach for the 2015 U18 World Track & Field Championships, 2009 World Cross Country Championships and 2009 Ontario Canada Summer Games head coach.

Dave not only has an extensive background in middle distance coaching, but is also a seasoned coaching course instructor/evaluator and race organizer.

Amanda is a National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) Sport Coach with Athletics Canada. She has taught in the private school system before giving up her career to focus on raising her three children. She is an accredited British Gymnastics Coach for Women’s Artistic Gymnastics and has coached at a private school in London, England. Amanda has been a competitive athlete her entire life having run marathons and half marathons and currently enjoys competing at the regional level in cross fit competitions.

Aside from her coaching expertise, Amanda brings energy, a strong willingness to learn, and a female perspective to our coaching staff. She shares the responsibilities of monitoring and coaching the High School Group along with Dave and has been coaching with CTAC for 7 years.

Amanda is an NCCP certified Club Coach.

With her first 10 km at 8 years of age, Sue has not stopped, whether it is a run with one of her kids or running one of her yearly marathons. As a runner for over 40 years, she is still running and competing with her family or individually in races from the 5 km to the marathon. Sue was the inaugural winner of the Toronto Scotiabank marathon and still is competing at this distance.

A physical education/guidance counsellor with the TCDSB, Sue has coached cross country and track for over 25 years at the high school level. She has a phys. Ed degree and masters in sport psychology. And when time permitted, she also coached at her children’s elementary school.

Sue has been a CTAC parent for a number of years, while also filling in gaps when needed for the coaches. She has also represented the club in the masters division.

Roz has been an avid runner for over thirty years, both as a competitive athlete and as a recreational runner. Roz competed in track and field in high school and medaled in both the 1500m & 3000m distances at OFSAA, as well as medaled in Cross Country (OFSAA) along with a 6th place finish at Junior Nationals.

As an adult, she enjoys road racing in distances from the 5 km to the marathon. Roz recently placed 3rd Master in the 5 km Canadian Road Championship and was a second place overall finisher in the Hamilton Marathon last year breaking the 3-hour barrier.

Roz has been a school teacher for 20 years with 7 years experience as a Physical Education teacher. She presently teaches at Blake Street Public School with TDSB and coaches both the Cross-Country and Track & Field teams.

Leslie has been an avid runner since high school where she competed in hurdles and the 4×100 relay.  She began longer distance running during University where she completed a degree in Kinesiology at McMaster, followed by a Graduate Degree in Occupational Therapy.  Leslie has completed 2 marathons (Victoria and NYC) as well as  many half-marathon and 10km races. She helped coach cross country for 8 years at her children’s elementary school. 

These days, Leslie’s favourite place to run is on the trails down in the Don Valley. She works as an Occupational Therapist at the Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook. Both of Leslie’s son’s ran with the CTAC Development group and her younger son continues to train with the High School group.

Kristen’s love for running began in high school as she crosstrained for rowing and it continued on throughout University where she studied health sciences. Her interest in longer distances developed during her time at Chiropractic College. Kristen’s favourite distance was the half marathon but did complete one marathon(New York) as well as many 5 and 10Ks. She started a running club within her practice and enjoyed being able to coach at her sons school over the last decade.  Her youngest son has been running with CTAC since grade 6 and currently trains with the high school group. 

More recently, Kristen enjoys running various distances with family and friends and is looking forward to a destination race once we are back travelling!  She practices as a Chiropractor at Fallingbrook Wellness in the beach.