Young Aurora resident raises almost $40,000 for Alzheimer’s Society through motorsport community

September 21, 2023 · 0 Comments

Jake Cowden, a 19-year-old competitive motorsport racer from Aurora, began a fundraising campaign to support the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada and the Alzheimer’s Society of York Region when he was 16 years old. Four years later, he has raised almost $40,000 through the motorsport community.

The campaign began in honor of his grandmother, Joyce, who lives with Alzheimer’s Disease. Cowden said his family has benefitted from the programs offered through the Alzheimer’s Society and wanted to give back.

“We have always been very close with my grandmother, she has been amazing,” he said. “And it was pretty sad to see her living with Alzheimer’s and others in the care facility she’s at. We wanted to do something to help out, to raise [funds] for programming and research.”

The young Aurora resident says a generous amount of donations were raised through the racing community. As a racecar driver himself, Cowden often has the opportunity to speak in front of large crowds about the fundraising campaign.

“In the racing world, there’s lots of people at the track at once,” he said. “Many race weekends I speak in front of everyone about the fundraiser and why I fundraise, and everyone is always happy to make a donation.”

Cowden’s goal has been to raise $10,000 every year. This year so far, he has raised around $37,000 through the generous support of friends, family and the motorsport community.

“I’m not sure the exact number but we are closing in on $10,000 which would bring our grand total over the past four years to $40,000,” he said.

Furthermore, he says every donation will be matched by the Gallone family.

“We need to do our part to support,” he said.

In 2023, Cowden made his debut racing a prototype Radical in Alabama, continuing his winning streak in his new race car. He will compete in the FEL Radical Cup Canada racing at Mosport, the Honda Indy in Toronto, and Calabogie.

During the winter of 2023 he placed second in the Pro category, and first in Semi-Pro, racing his F500 snowmobile on the ice oval tracks of Ontario and Quebec.

Cowden achieved 100 per cent podium finishes in 2022, winning the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship, the prestigious Formula 1 Montreal Grand Prix support race, CanAm Cup, and swept the GP3R Trois-Rivieres Grand Prix.

His successes in 2022 led to his selection for the Team Canada Scholarship, where he raced for Canada in England at the two largest international Formula Ford race events. During the winter of 2022, Cowden won the Ontario Snowmobile Oval Racers Sport F500 championship and was awarded OSOR’s Junior Driver 2022.

Cowden’s motorsport career began in go-kart racing in 2015.

To access Cowden’s official donation page, visit shorturl.at/wxMO2.

By Elisa Nguyen