The Petro‑Canada FACE program has chosen several local athletes to receive grants.
According to Petro-Canda, they select 55 up-and-coming athletes and their coaches from across Canada to receive a FACE™, or Fuelling Athlete and Coaching Excellence, grant each year.
"We give grants to athletes when they need it the most – when they are striving to represent Canada at the Paralympic or Olympic Games but don’t yet qualify for government funding," the company website states.
Among the athletes honoured is Carstairs athlete Myla Plett, who plays for the local curling team - Team Plett, coached by Airdrie resident Blair Lenton, as well as several athletes from Calgary, including BMX cycling athlete Dylan Tremel (Coached by Adam Muys), Ella Clayton in athletics (Coached by Christine Laverty), biathlon athlete Ema Chlepkova (Coached by Rachel Koroscil), ski jumper Rayna Leachman (Coached by Rogan Reid), and ski jumper Tarik VanWieren (Coached by Rogan Reid).
Other area athletes who received the grant include diver Daniela Durevska from Chestermere (Coached by Gilles Emptoz-Lacote) and Canmore local and biathlon athlete Benjamin Brousseau (Coached by Rachel Koroscil).
"Potential Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes are awarded a $10,000 FACE grant to help them along their journey, with $5,000 going directly to the athlete and $5,000 to the athlete’s coach. These grants are often used for training, equipment, coach education and travel expenses for competitions."
Since 1988, Petro-Canada has awarded over $14 million to support more than 3,500 Canadian athletes and coaches.
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