Dunrobin’s Lemmex wins second snowboard cross junior nationals

DUNROBIN – Dunrobin Shore’s Caily-Grace Lemmex, 15, has done it again, winning the Canadian Snowboard Cross Jr. National Championship this month, capping off an incredible season for the young athlete.

But she didn’t do it alone.

On top of winning her second U15 national title, Caily-Grace was a 2024 Ottawa Athlete Award winner as the top local snowboarder (presented last February). A few weeks later she won the provincial championship and then followed that up with her second junior national title in her last year as a pre- Fédération Internationale de Ski et de Snowboard (FIS) athlete. Along the way she was nominated for the 2024 Quebec Snowboard Female Snowboard Cross Athlete of the Year; earned a second place in the novice 2024 BMX Canada National Race and a second place in a 2024 Ontario BMX Canada Ontario Provincial Championship. She has been a member of the Ontario high performance team since 2023.

While single mom Joanne Lemmex is of course super proud of her daughter, she is equally proud of the community that has supported her through her athletic career.

Caily, adopted from an orphanage in Vietnam, has a goal of reaching the Olympics.

“It’s an amazing ambition,” Joanne told Ottawa Sports Pages last month. “If she can do it, great. If she can’t there’s other things out there as well. But I think if she works hard and wants to do this, with the right support, the right community and the right people helping us, she can do it.”

In Dunrobin and West Carleton, it seems as if Caily has found the right community.

“While her exploits are impressive, what is most exceptional about her story is the incredible support she has received from our community,” Joanne told West Carleton Online today (March 12). “She would not be able to race at this level without financial assistance and amateur athletes have no access to funding. Sport funding at the provincial/federal level is targeted to athletes who make Team Canada. Becoming a Team Canada snowboard athlete is a challenge. Caily will need to acquire more FIS points than other Canadian athletes and she doesn’t qualify to race FIS until next season. The cost of her equipment, training, coaching, travel to races and race fees is about $30,000 per year. I have managed to cover this in the past but the last two years have been tough.”

As a consultant, working can be intermittent for Joanne, and for the last year or so, that’s been the case. Joanne was off work from January to April last year and again this February.

“It has been heavy to think that her potential will be dashed, and her dream will die because I simply can’t afford it,” Joanne said. “I know it’s a first world problem, so I have a hard time even (saying) this.”

Knowing these challenges, the Lemmox’s have turned to their community.

“We knew it would be hard to pay for her season so Caily started a fundraising campaign in August,” Joanne said. “Her goal was to raise at least $10,000 in donations to her Canada Snow Athlete Fund. This is a fund set up to help amateur athletes in similar situations by enabling donors to receive a tax receipt.  We also looked in to how we could sleep and cook in our truck to save money on motel and food costs.”

Things are happening for the Lemmexes.

“As of today, Caily managed to raise $10,636,” Joanne said. “This support from family, friends and neighbors has made her year possible. Thanks to these donations and discounts from shops/chains we haven’t had to sleep in the truck yet, but it’s been a great fridge/freezer for our homemade meals. To say we are grateful to everyone is an understatement. We’ve both been overwhelmed with the support from our community – which we call #cailysvillage and have a Facebook messenger page to keep everyone updated on her progress.”

For Caily, there’s more work to do on the slopes as well.

“Caily has three more races in the Quebec circuit this year where she’s racing for the Coupe Quebec,” Joanne said. “Then she will start training for her first year as a FIS athlete. Her goal is to get enough FIS points to race for Canada at a Junior World Cup in 2027 and the Youth Olympics in 2028.”