December 2, 2016
Tommy was honoured to receive the award for Road Racer of the Year at the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club banquet 🙂 And, of course, he quoted a Disney character when he went up to receive his award! The video is here:

At 9:54 in this video you will see him receive his award! We were very moved by a speech given by Paralympian Jason Dunkerley, Tommy’s friend and fellow distance runner. Jason announced his retirement from Para Athletics and shared some words of wisdom, and we loved his speech and thought Tommy’s followers would enjoy it too. Tommy is just beginning his journey towards international competition, just as Jason is retiring. Thank you, Jason, for all you have done to pave the path in para sport for athletes like Tommy. Thank you for your support of Tommy and our family, for showing us what is possible through hard work and determination, for the years you trained alongside Tommy when he first began training with Coach Ray’s group at the Ottawa Lions, and for being such a wonderful leader in our Ottawa running community. We wish you well in all that lies ahead! To see Tommy and Jason racing the 5000m together at the National Championships 2016 in Edmonton, click here: https://youtu.be/dUa4zOL17h0

October 13, 2016
Tommy raced the 10k again this year at the wonderful Chelsea Challenge race, and finished 1st place with a new personal best time of 32:14!
Thank you to everyone who worked hard to make the Chelsea Challenge a huge success again in 2016! Tommy and Peter love this beautiful road race in the wonderful community of Chelsea Quebec, where Peter grew up and where Tommy has a Des Brisay family cottage. Cousin Iain raced the 5k this year! Iain is a competitive sailor, and has had a great year in his sailing races, but hasn’t been running at all. Still, he kept up to Tommy for the first km and gave the race his all! Iain’s girlfriend McKala came too! After the race, Tommy visited with family at the cottage. We hope you enjoy this video! Thanks for watching!

October 5, 2016
Tommy raced in the Spirit of the Shore Half Marathon in Vancouver and finished 1st place! Thank you so much to Dave, Carlee, and all the wonderful people at the race for embracing Tommy and for all your hard working making this event so amazing! The most magical thing was the incredible double rainbow at the start line, which was really beautiful. We hope this video brings a smile to all of Tommy’s friends and supporters far and wide. We are so grateful for the loving support Tommy receives. Thank you!
Check out Spirit of the Shore Half Marathon Facebook page and website for some wonderful photos of the event!

September 25, 2016
Thank you to everyone who worked hard to make this year’s Wakefield Moonlight River Run such a success last night! Congratulations to all the runners! Tommy finished 1st place in the 10k, enjoyed amazing gluten free vegetarian chili, danced Zumba as a warm up and later danced to a very cool local band 🙂 It was a great evening in a friendly supportive community!

September 18, 2016
Thank you, Canadian Running Magazine, for this story about Tommy! 🙂
And thank you, Canada Army Run, Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club, and all the amazing people in the running community who are so supportive of Tommy Des Brisay.
Congratulations to all the runners today who ran the Army Run, and all the others in the community who participated in the Terry Fox run today as well.
And thank you to our Canadian Armed Forces for everything you do for all of us. <3 Here is the story: http://runningmagazine.ca/thomas-des-brisday-canada-army-run-2016/ Thomas Des Brisay, a 24-year-old with autism, wins Canada Army Run half-marathon Thomas Des Brisay, a 24-year-old runner with autism, won the half-marathon at the Canada Army Run ahead of more than 8,500 participants. September 18th, 2016 by Tim Huebsch | Posted in homepage, Running News, Runs & Races Thomas Des Brisay led a pack of more than 8,500 runners to the finish in the half-marathon at the Canada Army Run on Sunday in Ottawa. The 24-year-old runner with autism, also one of Canada’s top para-athletes, ran 1:12:24 to win by almost two minutes over James Murphy. His time was a personal best. Des Brisay, who runs for the local Ottawa Lions Track Club, is a regular on the Ontario running circuit and completed his first marathon in 2014. The 24-year-old was diagnosed with autism at an early age and has been getting faster by the day since his start in the sport in 2006. On Sunday, Des Brisay, who wants to be “the first fastest runner in the world,” showed off his speed running his 5K splits as follows: 17:02, 16:19, 17:25, 17:42 and finishing off with a 3:59 final 1.1K. Earlier this summer, Des Brisay won the Scotiabank Canada Day 5K in 15:30. One of Des Brisay’s favourite runners is American teenager Mikey Brannigan, who competes in the T20 category and won gold in the 1,500m at the Paralympic Games. Brannigan ran a 3:57 mile this summer.

September 15, 2016
Below is the link to a new video- Tommy cheering for Mikey Brannigan, a most amazing T20 runner with Autism from the USA.
Congratulations Mikey on your Rio Paralympics Gold medal!!!!
Tommy and Mikey raced together in Arizona in May 2016 at the Desert Challenge Games. Mikey is such a great guy, and it was so wonderful to meet him in Arizona. We were so excited to cheer for him and watch him win the gold in Rio, and become The First Fastest Runner in the World! Congratulations, Mikey! We are so proud of you, and wish you continued success! Tommy hoped to race with you in Rio, and ran and personal best of 4:10 in the 1500m this season, which made him eligible for selection to Rio, but unfortunately he was not selected for Team Canada this time around. Maybe next year at the World Championships Tommy will have the honour of racing with you, and representing Canada in the 5000m T20 race in London, England!
In the meantime, have fun celebrating your gold medal succes, and have a safe trip home from Rio! Whee!!!

August 11, 2016
Today Athletics Canada released the list of Para Athletes selected to Team Canada for Rio 2016! Congratulations to the 24 amazing athletes who will represent Canada at the Paralympics in September! We will be cheering you on!
Unfortunately, Tommy did not make the list this time ’round. He had a fantastic season of new personal bests, and met the criteria required to make him eligible for selection to Rio, and came very, very close 🙂 We are so proud of his accomplishments, and so excited for all the future opportunities soon to come as he continues to grow as a Canadian T20 Para Athlete. In Rio, the longest distance event offered for T20 athletes is the 1500m. But next year at the World Championships in London England, there will be a T20 5000m event. Tommy is very strong in this event, and we are hopeful that he may have the opportunity to represent Canada next year in that event! And now we also look towards 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, knowing that Tommy is excited and keen to continue his dedicated training in his enthusiastic and joyful way 🙂 We want to warmly thank all the many wonderful people who have supported Tommy on his Road to Rio- his Ottawa Lions Coach Ray Elrick, his many teammates and training friends at the Ottawa Lions, his friends Kyle and Marco for their one to one support as fellow runners, the many Athletics Canada staff including Kristine, Kayla, Adam, Jason, Trish, Peter Eriksson, and others who supported him at their Development Camps in Guelph and Arizona, the many people who helped him complete his Classification as a T20 para athlete in both Italy and Arizona this year, his local physical therapists including Danny, Francine, Dr. Rod, and Marjolein, who kept him injury free and running, Ari Niemi at Zizu Optics for the awesome sunglasses, and for and his many, many wonderfully supportive friends both online and in person, and Tommy’s many family members near and far, who have all cheered him on and believed in him every step of the way! As Tommy’s parents, Peter and I feel like the First Luckiest Parents in the World, just being a part of Tommy’s unique journey as he goes forward each day, with his amazing smile, putting a smile on the faces of so many along the way. Whee!!!