Ottawa cycling bursary announces recipients

Three Ottawa-area cyclists will be getting financial support in 2011 from the annual Seenite Sports bursary.

Matteo Dal-Cin and Brian Trafford will each receive $1,200, while Maxime Leboeuf has been awarded $500.

The bursary — which has run since 2000 — funds athletes based on ability and their desire to achieve greater goals.

In 2010, riding for EuroSports.ca, Dal-Cin won the OBC Grand Prix and finished second in the Ontario time trial championships. The 20-year-old plans to use his award to fund training camps at the beginning of the season, with the goal of making the national team selection for the Tour de Saguenay and a podium finish at the time trial nationals.

Trafford, who will turn 19 in May, won the junior points race at the 2010 track nationals in only his second year of competition. He plans to use the bursary to help fund training camps in the spring, including a possible trip to Los Angeles to ride the velodrome there.

Leboeuf, who will turn 17 in November, won the regional mountain bike series and finished fourth in the OBC Grand Prix in his last year as a cadet in 2010. For 2011, he’ll use the bursary to fund a training camp in Cuba.

In the past 12 years, 28 athletes have received $27,000 from the bursary, according to bursary organizer Ross Knight.

Money for the bursary is raised by The Cyclery bike shop, the racers in the local Tuesday night training rides in Gatineau Park, the Ontario Cycling Association, the Ottawa Bicycle Club and more than 50 other smaller contributors.

“On behalf of the bursary committee I would like to thank all the sponsors for their generous contributions that enable these athletes to have both the confidence of support and the financial means to compete at events beyond the local area,” said Knight in a release.

More information on the bursary is available here.