Local archer and coach receive special grant
Amelia Gagné and Jess Ashton are part of a group of 55 up-and-coming athlete-mentor duos receiving Petro-Canada FACE money and they hope to represent our country at the Olympics
Archer Amelia Gagné and her coach, Jess Ashton, have been selected to receive the Petro-Canada FACE (Fuelling Athlete and Coaching Excellence) grant.
The pair are part of a group of 55 Canadian athlete-coach duos getting the grant and they hope to represent Canada at the Olympics.
Gagné and Ashton were nominated by Archery Canada and are the only archery athlete-coach pair to receive the grant. Each National Sport Organization across Canada has the opportunity to nominate athletes and coaches based on their pathway toward future Olympic events.
Gagné and Ashton are both from around Peterborough and train in the area. The development of the sport of archery in the region has had challenges starting with the closure of a nearby facility in 2019 leaving competitive archers with limited options to train. They currently train nearby at Red Head Archery, a new facility in Douro Dummer that opened in 2021.
The two have been able to continue to work together through perseverance. They worked together at the 2023 Canada Winter Games and competed in the Youth and Masters Pan American Championships in 2024 in El Salvador. In September, they will be headed to the World Archery Championships in Alberta.
“I am so grateful to have received this funding from Petro-Canada,” stated Gagné, in a Peterborough Archers news release. “The money will allow me to participate in more international tournaments and assist with equipment upgrades. This will greatly benefit my progression in archery and in achieving my goals as a high-performance archer.”
“As a woman who has grown up in this sport, as a previous competitive archer myself, I understand the time, dedication and countless hours of work that go behind highperformance archery,” said Ashton. “Programs like the Petro-Canada FACE program are invaluable for athlete development as we work toward Amelia’s Olympic goals.”
Potential Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes are awarded a $10,000 FACE grant to help them along their journey. The grants are often used for training, equipment, coach education and travel expenses for competitions. Since 1988, the fund has provided more than $14 million in support to Canadian athletes and coaches.