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Northland Sportspeople recognised at awards
posted: 9 December 2011 Sport Thought with Brent Eastwood
Last Friday night saw a wonderful celebration of Northland sport when the 2011 Konica Minolta Northland Sports Awards were held at the ASB Leisure Centre in Whangarei.
Over 350 people saw the best of Northland’s sporting talent recognised through the various awards, heard from a very entertaining guest speaker, and witnessed another two Legends of Northland Sport inductions.
The top award (the Northland Sports Person of the Year) was taken out convincingly by cricketer Tim Southee, who had a sensational international year, particularly in the 20/20 format of the game, where he won the ICC best bowling performance (5 for 18).
Tim also won the Steinlager Edge Sportsman of the Year, while the Steinlager Edge Sportswoman of the Year was taken out by Nicky Roberts for her international success in karate. Nicky also won the Garry Frew Memorial U21 Sports Person of the Year award.
The Team of the Year award was won by the popular Northland Water Ski Team (all from the Kai Iwi Lakes Water Ski Club), who won the national teams title for the second year in succession, and only for the fourth time ever in its history.
Other awards were won by Rob Ward for archery (Masters Sports Person of the Year), Bob Dalton for karate (Coach of the Year), Sharon Crawford for squash (Administrator of the Year) and Melanie Oakden for hockey (Official of the Year). 27 ASB Code awards were also handed out for the best athletes in each sports code in Northland.
But the highlights of the night for me were the inducting of another two Northland sportsmen as Legends of Northland Sport (Northland’s Sporting Hall of Fame), and the naming of the Brian Maunsell Memorial Service to Sport award winner.
Former All Black Peter Sloane and former Commonwealth Games medallist and Olympic swimmer Michael Davidson were popular inductees as Legends of Northland Sport. Both received rousing ovations and both then spoke very eloquently on how proud they were to be Northlanders, and how fondly they looked back on their days learning their sporting skills while growing up in the north.
A mark of what these inductions meant to both men was the fact that both travelled big distances to be there on the night – Sloane from Christchurch and amazingly Davidson from his home in Florida, USA.
22 famous Northlanders from 10 sports now grace the Legends of Northland Sport list.
Richard Dunkerton was also a popular winner – he received the prestigious Brian Maunsell Service to Sport award for his dedication to swimming in Northland since the mid 1970s. ‘Mr D’, as he is widely known in Northland swimming circles, has done almost everything there is to do in swimming in the region, and is still involved as a coach with the Bream Bay club and as an administrator with the club and on Swimming Northland committees.
Former NZ Breaker basketball star Paul Henare entertained the audience with tales of his Olympic and World Championship antics and had some inspiring words for the sports people present.
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