Gold Medal Plates Victoria 2014 Chefs Announced

Pictured above: Last year’s Gold Medal Plates winner Chef Brian Skinner from The Acorn

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE

2014 Edition Will Be Held At The Victoria Conference Centre October 30^th

Victoria, B.C. – April 29, 2014 – Victoria’s Gold Medal Plates (GMP) dinner will feature seven new chefs and three returning chefs competing in the 2014 edition of the Olympic fundraising event, with 2013 silver medalist Darren Brown of the Fairmont Pacific Rim (Vancouver) and 2013 bronze medalist Terry Pichor of Sonora Resort (Sonora Island) back amongst the competitors. The evening of wine and food pairings will take place at the Victoria Conference Center (720 Douglas Street) on Thursday, October 30^th, 2014.

Last year’s gold medalist Brian Skinner of The Acorn (Vancouver) will be returning as a judge of the competition, which will feature ten chefs from all over the province. Jeff Keenliside of The Marina Restaurant (Victoria), who competed in last year’s event, will also be returning in 2014 rounding out the four chefs competing from Victoria, three from Vancouver, and three from the Okanagan and Discovery Islands.

The ten participating chefs at the Victoria 2014 Gold Medal Plates event are:

• Darren Brown – Fairmont Pacific Rim (Vancouver)
• Stephan Drolet – Camille’s (Victoria)
• Kristian Eligh – Hawksworth (Vancouver)
• Brad Holmes – Ulla (Victoria)
• Jeff Keenliside – The Marina Restaurant (Victoria)
• Terry Pichor – Sonora Resort (Sonora Island)
• Chris Remington – Penticton Lakeside Resort (Penticton)
• Iain Rennie – Oak Bay Beach Hotel (Victoria)
• Jeff Van Geest – Miradoro (Oliver)
• Wesley Young – Wildebeest (Vancouver)

Gold Medal Plates (GMP) is the ultimate celebration of Canadian Excellence in cuisine, wine, the arts and athletic achievement. Celebrated in eleven cities across Canada in 2014, GMP features the premier chefs in each city/province in a competition to crown a gold, silver and bronze medal culinary team, and subsequently nation-wide at the Canadian Culinary Championships.

Gold Medal Plates is also known for its intimate and unique combinations of Canadian talent. Jim Cuddy, lead singer of Blue Rodeo is the GMP national entertainment advisor, and he invites incredible Canadian talent to be showcased at all GMP events. Joining Jim Cuddy at the Victoria 2013 event were violinist extraordinaire Anne Lindsay as well as John Mann and Geoffrey Kelly of “Spirit of the West.”  The entertainment component of the 2014 GMP event will be announced at a later date, as well as the names of attending Olympic athletes.

The Canadian Olympic Foundation is the beneficiary from the GMP events’ net proceeds, with funds being directed to the Own the Podium program. To date, GMP has provided $8.2 million to the Canadian Olympic Foundation and, once again, Olympians will be taking part in the dinners across Canada.

Those wishing to purchase a table for the Victoria event on October 30^th may do so by contacting Scott Gurney at 1-250-516-9797.

About Gold Medal Plates

This national series of events is the ultimate celebration of Canadian excellence in cuisine, wine, entertainment and athletic achievement. Celebrated in 11 cities across Canada this year, Gold Medal Plates features premier chefs, superb Canadian food and wines, great Canadian entertainers, while profiling current and prospective Canadian Olympic athletes in a competition to crown a gold, silver and bronze medal culinary team in each city, and subsequently, at a national grand finale. Since 2004, this event has received tremendous support and accolades all across Canada while generating a combined net total of more than $8.2 million for Canada’s Olympic athletes. For more information, visit the Gold Medal Plates website www.goldmedalplates.com.

About The Canadian Olympic Foundation, Beneficiary Of This Event

The Canadian Olympic Foundation is a national charitable organization created by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) supporting high performance athletes across all winter and summer sports. The Foundation’s mission is to generate support to meet the technical, scientific, medical and coaching needs of Canada’s high performance sports systems and assist Canada’s athletes in becoming ambassadors for sport, healthy living and the pursuit of excellence across the nation. Net proceeds from Gold Medal Plates are given to the Canadian Olympic Foundation to support high performance programs such as Own the Podium. To learn more about the Foundation and the programs it funds, please visit www.olympicfoundation.ca.