Petro-Canada awards 13 Para athletes 2020 FACE grants

Master Corporal Mike Trauner and Parapan American Games multi-medallist Olivia Meier are among the 13 Para athletes who will each receive $10,000 in funding for the next year as Petro-Canada FACE™ athletes.

The Fuelling Athlete and Coaching Excellence (FACE) grants are awarded to athletes who are striving to represent Canada at future Olympic and Paralympic Games but do not yet qualify for government funding. The funds – of which $5,000 goes to the athlete and $5,000 to their coach – are used for training, equipment, coach education, and competition travel expenses.

Since 1988, more than 3,000 Canadian athletes and their coaches have been helped with over $12 million in financial support.

Trauner, who lost both his legs while deployed in Afghanistan in 2008, was discovered at a 2017 Paralympian Search hosted by the Canadian Paralympic Committee in Toronto. The Ottawa resident continues to pursue his goal to compete in canoeing at the Paralympic Games scheduled for next summer in Tokyo.

Charlotte Bolton, who competes in Para athletics, also attended that same Paralympian Search event.  

Winnipeg’s Meier, 20, won gold in mixed doubles with Pascal Lapointe and silver in women’s singles in Para badminton at the Parapan Am Games in 2019. It was the sport’s debut at the Games and it will also be on the Paralympic Games program for the first time in Tokyo.

Teenagers Clémence Paré and Jacob Brayshaw also made their multi-sport Games debuts as the Lima 2019 Parapan Am Games, competing as Next Gen swimmers. 

Co-captain of the national wheelchair rugby team, Trevor Hirschfield, is also a recipient of the FACE grant this year – but as a coach. Hirschfield coaches up-and-coming wheelchair rugby player Brandon Perger. 

Here are the Para athletes named as 2020 FACE grant recipients:

Logan Leach, Para alpine skiing, Vernon, B.C.
Clémence Paré, Para swimming, Boucherville, Que.
Brandon Perger, Wheelchair rugby, Kelowna, B.C.
Charlotte Bolton, Para athletics, Woodstock, Ont.
Olivia Meier, Para badminton, Winnipeg
Christina Picton, Para cross country skiing, Fonthill, Ont.
Jesse Bachinsky, Para cross country skiing, Kenora, Ont.
Jacob Brayshaw, Para swimming, Coldstream, B.C.
Megan Smith, Wheelchair basketball, Vancouver
Michael Trauner, Para canoe, Ottawa
Tess Beasant, Para alpine skiing, Hardisty, Alta.
Leanne Taylor, Para triathlon, Winnipeg
Nilton Heredia, Para athletics, Sherbrooke, Que.