HAMILTON ROAD FOUNDATION – ROSS CHAFE AWARD 2016
The Hamilton 2003 Road Cycling Foundation is pleased to announce the inaugural winners of the Ross Chafe Award. Ross Chafe was a long serving member of the Hamilton Road Foundation Board and instrumental in obtaining positive investment returns for the Foundation’s funds. It was his philosophy that the Foundation should utilize its resources to the full extent possible to support the developing riders. He died tragically in a cycling accident in 2015.
On the women’s side Ruby West (Dundas, ON) who was third in the Time Trial and seventh in the Road Race at the 2016 Canadian Junior Road Championships was selected for the award. She is coached by Kevin Simms at the Centurion Next Wave club. “I am honoured to be the first female recipient of this award. This means so much to me because it provides me with great encouragement and validation that I am on the right path with my cycling career. The award will go a long way towards travel expenses to international camps and races,” said Ruby.
Jordann Jones (Jerseyville, ON) was the male winner of the award. He was the winner of the Time Trial and placed second in the Road Race at the 2016 Canadian Junior Road Championships. He rides for the Team NCCH p/b DEC Express club and is coached by Rick Lee. Jordann was thrilled to be the recipient of the men’s award; “I am honoured to have won the Ross Chafe Award. Ross competed on the Canadian National Men’s team at multiple Road World Championships, the Commonwealth Games and Pan Am Games. I hope I can do as well as he did. This award will go towards helping me achieve my goals in cycling and my post-secondary studies.”
The Chair of the Hamilton 2003 Road Cycling Foundation, Linda Jackson, had this to say about the inaugural awards; “We are thrilled to have two recipients of the calibre of Ruby and Jordann as our first two award winners. There were many strong applicants and these two stood out not only due to their cycling performances but as importantly, their academic achievements and focus. Providing this award to these worthy riders is a fitting memory to our dear friend Ross.”
