August 14, 2015 (Milton, ON) – Canada’s Shelley Gautier was honoured at a gathering on Aug. 13 just after picking up a silver medal at the 2015 Toronto ParaPan Am Games, this time in the women’s T1-2 individual time trial (ITT). Pedal was among the attendees at the casual get-together held in a private room at the Boston Pizza on Maple Street in Milton, Ont. near the Mattamy Homes Velodrome.

Gautier’s stunning career includes multiple World Cup wins and podiums along with 10 Para Worlds titles. On July 30, Gautier successfully defended her time trial World title winning gold in the 14km T-1 ITT event at the Para-Cycling World Championships in Nottwil, Switzerland. Then on Aug. 1, she took home more Para-Cycling Worlds gold in the 21km T-1 Road Race. The para-cyclist from Toronto  thus earned her tenth rainbow jersey in as many starts at this prestigious event.

Earlier on June 6, Gautier won gold at the Para-Cycling World Cup WT-1 RR in Maniago, Italy and later in June, at the Para-Cycling World Cup in Yverdon-les-bains, Switzerland, she earned more gold in the women’s T-1 RR along with silver in the T-1 ITT event.

“She can boast of having won every national and international race she participated in since her beginnings in para-cycling and she continues to grow and improve her performances,” reads part of a recent Cycling Canada press release. All of this makes Gautier a likely participant at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

In December 2014 she teamed up with the National Cycling Centre Hamilton (NCCH) to form the Shelley Gautier Para-Sport Foundation. In April of this year, Cycling Canada joined the partnership in an effort to encourage and provide opportunities for people with disabilities to be active and get involved in sports.

The foundation has already seen much success either through its integration of a para-cycling program in the NCCH club (National Cycling Centre of Hamilton), or by establishing a partnership with Ross Macdonald School for the Blind in Brantford, Ontario. This school will allow children from 4 to 16 years old to enjoy access to cycling within their sports program (tandem cycling). In addition, with the NCCH club, the project provides guidance from certified coaches and volunteer tandem pilots.

Gautier is a tremendous athlete and a role model for the community to follow. She was an accomplished mountain biker before a tragic crash in 2001 which paralyzed most of the right side of her body. Gautier quickly came back into the cycling world as a para-cyclist and is now one of the best in the world.

Pedal joins the cycling community in congratulating Gautier on her accomplishments and wishing her all the best on the road ahead with her new Foundation and her athletics goals.