Best of luck to Red River College instructor Luc Jean, who’ll square off against some of the city’s best chefs at an exclusive culinary competition benefiting Canada’s Olympic athletes this week.

Jean, an instructor with RRC’s Culinary Arts program, has been selected as one of the top chefs in Winnipeg, and as such will compete in the 2014 Gold Medal Plates competition, a precursor to the Canadian Culinary Championships.

Jean will represent Jane’s — RRC’s exclusive restaurant and training kitchen — at the event, which takes place Thu., Oct. 2 at the RBC Convention Centre. As it does every year, the event celebrates the best in local cuisine, pitting the city’s premiere chefs against each other in a bid for a spot at the championships, which take place next February in Kelowna.

Jean will face some formidable competition at the event, including a number of RRC grads, among them Adam Donnelly (Segovia), Michael Dacquisto (Food Evolution), and Norm Pastorin (The Grove).

Other competitors include Michael Schafer (Sydney’s at The Forks). Barry Saunders (Inn at The Forks), Edward Lam (Yujio) and Eric Lee (Pizzeria Gusto).

Net proceeds from the Gold Medal Plates go to the Canadian Olympic Foundation, which supports Canada’s Own the Podium program. To date, over $8.2 million has been raised.