Media release
25 January, 2016



Eric Murray reigns supreme at the 2015 Brian Perry Waikato Regional Sports Awards for the sixth time


Winners of the prestigious 2015 Brian Perry Regional Sports Awards were announced on Thursday 28th January, 2016 at Claudelands Conference & Exhibition Centre, Hamilton. The event showcases and celebrates sporting achievement from local grassroots clubs through to high performance level.
 
For the sixth time, rower Eric Murray took out the Arrow International Sportsman of the Year title and also the prestigious Brian Perry Supreme Award for Sporting Excellence. Murray previously won both titles in 2009/10/11/12/13 and his consecutive record was broken last year to 19 year old David Nyika. Nyika was named the 2014 Arrow International Sportsman of the Year and won the Brian Perry Surpreme Award for Sporting Excellence after winning gold in the men’s light, heavyweight boxing division at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014.
 
Six time winner Murray was recognised for his unbeaten streak to 641 international paces with rowing partner Hamish Bond. The pair also won the men’s coxless pair World Championship title in France where they were named World Male Crew of the Year at the World Rowing Awards and awarded the Halberg Team of the Year and Supreme Winners in 2015.
 
Other winners from the night included Leana de Bruin who won the title of Gallagher Group Sportswoman of the Year, and the Kia Magic who took out the title of Wintec Team of the Year. Up and coming cyclist Lewis Eccles was awarded University of Waikato Emerging Talent and is relocating from Taupo to Cambridge’s Home of Cycling this year.
 
It was noted throughout the evening how tough the judge’s decisions were to make, by first picking finalists and then by picking the winners. Sport Waikato Chief Executive Matthew Cooper commented on the exceptional talent throughout our region “The calibre of the sports people in the Waikato is phenomenal and we are seeing them achieve at every level, across a broad range of sports.”
“Congratulations to all of our finalists and our winners.”
 

2015 Brian Perry Waikato Regional Sports Award Winners
Category First Name Last Name Sport Club/Organisation District
Ricoh Service to Sport Don Shergold Rugby Union Chiefs Hamilton
Ricoh Service to Sport Margaret Webby Netball Hamilton City Netball Centre Hamilton
Ricoh Service to Sport Mark McLaughlin Touch Waikato Touch Association Hamilton
Ricoh Service to Sport Melvyn Young Basketball St John's College (Hamilton) Hamilton
Ricoh Service to Sport Patsi Jean Davies Football Waikato Bay of Plenty Football Federation Hamilton
Ricoh Service to Sport Paul McGill Rugby Union Hamilton Marist Rugby Football Club Hamilton
Ricoh Service to Sport Stephen O'Toole Squash Hamilton Squash and Tennis Club Hamilton
Deloitte Administrator of the Year Fran Hopkins Squash Squash Waikato Hamilton
Lodge Real Estate Club of the Year Piako Gymnastics Club Gymsports Piako Gymnastics Club Matamata Piako
Lodge Real Estate Club Coach of the Year Rebecca Gabel Netball Waikato University Netball Club Hamilton
Lodge Real Estate Club Team of the Year Noel Sutton, Owen Sutton and Shane McGonagle Bowls Putaruru Bowling Club South Waikato
Tompkins Wake Coach of the Year Tim Carswell Cycling - Track Cycling New Zealand Waipa
University of Waikato Emerging Talent Lewis Eccles Cycling – Track Taupo Cycling Club Taupo
Montana Catering Referee/Umpire of the Year Shanelle Barrett Triathlon Tri Sport Taupo Taupo
Westpac Secondary School Sportsman of the Year Sam Vincent Golf St Peter's School (Cambridge) Waipa
Westpac Secondary School Sportswoman of the Year Nikita Howarth Para Swimming Cambridge High School Waipa
Westpac Secondary School Team of the year Hamilton Boys High School Under 18 Rowing Eight Rowing Hamilton Boys High School Hamilton
Arrow International Sportsman of the Year Eric Murray Rowing Rowing New Zealand Waipa
Gallagher Group Sportswoman of the Year Leana de Bruin Netball Netball Waikato Bay of Plenty Hamilton
Brian Perry Supreme Sportsperson Eric Murray Rowing Rowing New Zealand Waipa
Wintec Team of the Year Kia Magic Netball Netball Waikato Bay of Plenty Hamilton
2015 Brian Perry Waikato Regional Sports Award Winners Blurbs
For a full list of finalists please visit http://www.sportwaikato.org.nz/news/finalists-announced-for-2015-brian-perry-waikato-r.aspx
 
Lodge Real Estate Club Coach of the Year – Rebecca Gabel
Rebecca coaches the Waikato University Premier Netball team who competed in the Hamilton City Premier netball competition as well as the Super 14 club competition, the team was successful in winning both the competitions.  Rebecca continued with coaching modules this year where she is working towards the performance coach award.
Rebecca is a very talented and dedicated coach who is committed to her coaching and the development of netball players within the University of Waikato netball team.  The premier team has had a high retention rate which is evidence that Rebecca has had a positive impact on the girls in the team.
 
Lodge Real Estate  Club Team of the Year - Noel Sutton, Owen Sutton and Shane McGonagale
The trio of Noel, Owen and Shane were the New Zealand Open Triples Champions for the 2014/15 season defeating quality bowls teams along the way; this is a highly regarded event amongst the bowls fraternity.  All three of the players have been involved in playing bowls for the past 25years.
Noel Sutton won the Waikato Champion and champion’s singles, Noel and Owen were runners up in the Waikato Open 4’s and Shane won the Auckland stadium 4’s all these events assisted the three bowlers with their triples win at the New Zealand Open.
 
Lodge Real Estate Club of the Year – Piako Gymnastics Club
In the past few years the Piako Gymnastics Club have has significant membership growth, expanding their operations to service four different communities and have introduced recreational trampolining, an adult gymnastics class and a teen gym class. A Youth Leadership Programme has enrolled 15 student coaches.
Meeting the demand in the community for Gymnastics based GymSport programmes has lead the club to where it is today – a significant number of members and engagement across the community. 
The hard working, enthusiastic and dedicated people that are behind ‘Piako Gymnastics’ believed they could provide the people of the Piako Community opportunities to have gymsport experiences in their community.
 
Deloitte Administrator of the Year - Fran Hopkins
Fran is the Chairperson of Squash Waikato, she has guided the organisation for the past three seasons in all aspects, and she is involved at every level from junior teams and coaching through to staff management and funding.  She is an extremely dedicated administrator for squash in the Waikato. 
Fran’s leadership style is inclusive and consultative.  She is a careful leader who prides herself on making sensible decisions with the best interests of the sport in mind.  She brings a very savvy business mind and her attention to detail is imperative to our success.  
 
Montana Catering Referee/Umpire of the Year - Shanelle Barrett
In the sport of triathlon Shanelle is one of New Zealand’s top technical officials. In 2015 she officiated at the ITU world triathlon series on the Gold Coast, the ITU continental cup in Fiji and the ITU Olympic test event in Rio de Janeiro.  Shanelle has been named technical delegate for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Shanelle sets a high standard of what is required at an event and also by other technical officials that work with her.  She is a great role model for the sport and is well liked among her peers.  Through her knowledge of the sport at a high level international official she is able to achieve her objectives and goals. 
 
Tompkins Wake Coach of the Year - Tim Carswell
Tim is the coach of the men’s endurance squad within Cycling New Zealand’s High Performance Track programme.  Tim selected a number of athletes he has developed over the 2014/2015 season who delivered personal bests at the UCI Track Cycling Championship and won the World title in the Men’s Team Pursuit.
Tim’s outstanding success has been proven through the athletes results.  Tim leads the Men’s Endurance programme and directs the racing and training schedule and key performance personnel who sit behind the riders programmes i.e. strength and conditioning, performance nutrition.
 
RP Luckie Sporting Personality of the Year – Liam Messam
This current All Black is an integral part of Waikato Rugby having played and captained the Chiefs and Waikato ITM cup teams.  Liam leads by example has an enormous work ethic, polished skill set and uncompromising attitude.  He is a born leader and is highly respected amongst not only the Waikato community but nationally and internationally.
 
Westpac Secondary School Sportsman of the Year – Sam Vincent, St Peters School, Cambridge
Sam is a New Zealand junior golf representative; he was runner-up in the men’s New Zealand Amateur, won the Waikato Winter Strokeplay, the North Island u-19 title and sits 8th on the New Zealand Golf Order of Merit.  Sam finished 10th at the Greg Norman Junior Masters in a field of over 120 international players. 
Sam is a hard working dedicated golfer who is always searching for constant improvement whilst also trying to keep enjoyment in the game.  Sam has recently been awarded a full scholarship to Iowa State University and will begin his studies in August.
 
Westpac Secondary School Sportswoman of the Year – Nikita Howarth, Cambridge High School
After attending the Para World Swimming Champs in Glasgow, Nikita returned as world champion in both the S7 50 metre butterfly and SM7 200 metre Individual Medley.  Nikita broke her Oceanic record in the SB8 100 metre breaststroke twice, once in the heat and again in the final finishing 6th
Nikita is a mature young lady who deals well with her commitments in and out of the pool, be it training, speaking at Schools or doing Media interviews for Paralympics New Zealand. She is friendly and approachable but also very driven to succeed.
 
Westpac Secondary School Team of the Year – Hamilton Boys’ High School U18 Rowing Eight
Winners of the Maadi Cup U18 eight secondary school championship the team are also winners of the North Island Secondary Schools U18 championship.  The team are highly motivated and dedicated with the team consisting of four boys aged under 17 boding well for 2016.
This crew performed with distinction to defeat New Zealand’s premier schoolboy teams, racing through the North Island & New Zealand Championships unbeaten. These boys under the expert coaching of Bruce Holden trained to a level of performance of the highest calibre.
 
Ricoh Service to Sport - Paul McGill
Paul has been involved with Hamilton Marist Rugby Football club his whole life, he started as a junior player and more recently on the committee and as the Club President.  Paul encompasses all the key attributes and strengths of a fantastic leader; he has the respect of the committee, club members and community.  He gives his spare time to do anything in his power to make the club successful and will continue to do so in many years to come.
 
Ricoh Service to Sport - Stephen O’Toole
Stephen has been involved with squash from a young age and had a willingness from a young age to get involved with administrational tasks.  Stephen has been a player, manager, coach, committee member, chairperson and selector for not only the Hamilton Squash and Tennis club but also Waikato Squash and New Zealand squash.  Stephen is extremely humble, accommodating and a passionate Waikato advocate who has given vast volunteer hours to squash.
 
Ricoh Service to Sport - Margaret Webby
Margaret has been involved with netball in Hamilton since 1980 she is an active volunteer and convenor of the primary and intermediate competition at Hamilton City Netball and has been for 23 years.  Margaret has assumed key leadership roles including events management, people management and convenor and has been instrumental in growing grassroots netball at a primary level.  Margaret is a passionate volunteer giving freely of her skills, time and enthusiasm for netball and children.
 
Ricoh Service to Sport - Mark McLaughlin
Mark started playing touch in 1981 and has been involved ever since.  He has been heavily involved in the development of the sport locally, nationally and internationally with stints on the Waikato Touch, Touch New Zealand and the Federation of International Touch boards.  Mark was instrumental in overseeing a move into a professional era that resulted in Waikato Touch’s most successful on field results.  Mark has not only played Touch but has also been a coach, manager, selector and technical director overseeing coach and referee development.  Mark is a very deserving recipient of this award.
 
Ricoh Service to Sport - Patsi Davies
Patsi has been involved with WAIBOP Football since 2004 firstly as a member and then as chair from 2007 – 2015, previously Patsi was involved with football for many years through her six sons playing various levels including Waikato FC and National League competition.  As Board Chairperson Patsi was pivotal in getting the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup to Hamilton and had an instrumental role in getting the FIFA U20 Men’s world cup to Hamilton also.  Patsi is well respected in the sporting and wider community she has persistently championed football in the region and has become the face for football governance in the WAIBOP area.
 
Ricoh Service to Sport - Don Shergold
Don has been involved with the Waikato Rugby Union since 1991 as Executive Officer and Operational Manager and more recently in a voluntary basis with the Chiefs.  During his time at Waikato Rugby he ran 324 games on Rugby Park, Waikato Stadium and was liaison officer for all the All Black games in Hamilton.  Don has never backed off a challenge and has a never give up attitude.  He has great people skills, is patient displays common sense and has the patience of a saint.  Don is still very much a part of Chiefs rugby, at 77 his involvement is real testament to his passion for the game and the people involved.
 
Ricoh Service to Sport -  Mel Young – Posthumous
Mel was a player, referee, then a highly successful coach, and an internationally renowned administrator of basketball, whist upholding a teaching role, deputy principal and sometimes acting principal at St Johns College. Mel was a former vice president of Basketball New Zealand, president of the New Zealand Basketball Referees Association, a life member of Basketball New Zealand and Oceania representative on the International Basketball Federation Youth Commission. 
Mel became a mentor and friend for many young basketball players, not just in helping them with their skills as players (which he did, with some reaching international honours), but probably more importantly, with life skills. He believed sport could be life-shaping.

University of Waikato Emerging Talent – Lewis Eccles
Lewis represented New Zealand at the elite world cup cycling and Olympic qualifying points meet in Columbia winning all 3 250 m start races.  He was a member of the junior male sprint team who gained bronze in Australia and competed at the elite junior world cup in Kazakhstan finishing 6th in the 1000 m time trial.
Lewis is a past Pathway to Podium athlete who has been listed as one of the nine elite track cyclists to contest the four Olympic spots for the 2016 Rio games.  Lewis is a young cyclist with a huge future.
Arrow Internatioal Sportsman of the year - Eric Murray
This year saw Eric and his partner Hamish Bond extend their unbeaten streak to 61 international races.  The pair won the men’s coxless pair World Championship title in France they were named world male crew of the year at the World Rowing Awards and Halberg team of the year and supreme Winners in 2015.
Six time winner Eric Murray has had another outstanding year in 2015. As part of the NZ Men’s pair, his supremacy of this event over the last 7 years has been resolute. This dominance puts him as a firm favourite to defend his Olympic title at Rio in 2016.
 
Gallagher Group Sportswoman of the Year - Leana de Bruin
Leana won a silver medal as a member of the Silver Ferns at the Netball World Championship in Sydney; she also played her 100th game for the Silver ferns during the World Cup.  Leana is captain of the Kia Magic team and has also played her 100th game in the ANZ championship.
Leana led a very inexperienced Magic team this year.  She was hugely motivated and up for the challenge - this amplifies what a true sports athlete she is.  She not only guided a new person in the Goal Keep role, but led and supported the entire team from one end of the court.
 
Wintec Team of the Year – Kia Magic Netball Team
This year saw the Kia Magic win the inaugural New Zealand Conference in the ANZ Championship the team then went on to finish 3rd in the Championship keeping their unbeaten record of being the only ANZ Championship team to make the finals series each year. 
2015 saw three notable senior players with injuries however this didn’t hold back this young team from achieving outstanding results.  Against all odds they beat the Northern Mystics in the inaugural New Zealand Conference final
 



 

Brian Perry Waikato Regional Sports Awards Winners Announced 2015

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