(Pictured above: Perth and District Collegiate Institute student Robbie McLellan took a gold medal in the men's 100-meter snowshoe event at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in McCall, Idaho.)

(Perth) - He’s a world champion with the heart and hardware to prove it.

After coming off a fifth-place performance this month in the preliminary heat, Robbie McLellan fought back in the finals to win gold in the 100-metre snowshoe event at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in McCall, Idaho.  The Perth and District Collegiate Institute (PDCI) student also brought home silver in the 4 by 400-metre relay and posted fourth in the 400-metre individual event at the games, which attracted athletes from more than 100 countries.

“When I won I was thinking of my family and my friends,” recalled McLellan of his February 11 gold-medal performance.  “It’s nice to be able to bring these medals back here and share with them the memories of the time of my life.”

Things looked tough for the Canadian national champion after the 100-metre preliminary heat on February 9.  The mediocre standing – by McLellan’s standards - forced him to dig down deep and bear down for the finals two days later.

“I just focused on what I had to do, not on anyone else in the race,” he said.  “My game plan was simple - to go out and give it all I had.”

Giving it all he had allowed him to leap across the finish line in a time of 21.65 seconds.

The Canadian mens 4 by 400 relay team of McLellan, Alex Shankel, Adam Wakeman, and Darryl Robinson would later put in a silver-medal performance with a time of 12:09.2.

The 20-year-old Perth resident believes that superior conditioning helped lead to his success at the Worlds. Since last May, he had been training three times a week at the Alley Cats Health and Fitness Centre in Perth.  He spent half an hour each session on the treadmill and then 90 minutes per session completing a full workout on the universal gym.  Since November, he had also put in an hour a day training on area snowshoe trails.

Being a Special Olympics athlete has garnered several benefits for McLellan. He and other national team members were feted in December at a Special Olympics sports celebrity festival. He was presented with a national team sweatshirt signed by the likes of Canadian Junior team captain John Tavares, Walter Gretzky, cyclist Curt Harnett and professional wrestlers The Edge and Natalia.

While he has reached the pinnacle of success in Special Olympics snowshoeing, McLellan is hoping to run for his country again next year.

He has applied to be a member of the torch run team for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

-30-

Debra Thomlinson

Principal

Perth and District Collegiate Institute

613-267-3051