The 2016 Annual Awards Dinner was conducted at the Rowers on George in Wolli Creek, Sydney on the evening of Saturday 12th November.
The photos from the evening will be posted on the Australian Canoeing’s Facebook page shortly.
COACH OF THE YEAR
WINNER – ANDREA KING
Andrea was the driving force behind Paracanoe establishing itself with the canoeing fraternity in Australia. At the 2015 ICF Paracanoe World Championships, Australia filled all available quota spots for the Paralympic Games and the first time Paracanoe was at the Paralympic Games, with the support of Andrea.
Andrea also lead 6 athletes to compete at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. The campaign was highly successful with 5 of the 6 athletes making finals, and leading to a Gold, Silver and Bronze medal for the team.
MASTER OF THE YEAR
WINNER – CLINT ROBINSON
Clint Robinson competed at the 2015 ICF World Ocean Racing Championships in Tahiti, he won Gold in the 40-44 year category and also walked away with a Silver medal for the overall Championships. Clint also won the open double ski category in the 2015 Perth DR Ocean Racing Championships which were held in conjunction with the 2015 Australian Canoeing Ocean Racing Championships 28th November 2015.
INSTRUCTOR/GUIDE OF THE YEAR
WINNER – JOHN HUBACH
John has been an integral ambassador for Australian Canoeing for the past decade. John was instrumental in the Recreation Camps becoming a National Training Provider and in the past five years has been responsible alongside a training team for training or assessment of 50 outdoor leaders. More importantly, John is often a sounding board for our Camp Managers and Camp Program Coordinators and provides essential support to the Training and Quality Coordinator. He continues to benchmark against the Safety Guidelines at every occasion and is vocal if the standard doesn’t meet workplace or industry requirement for Western Australia.
TECHNICAL OFFICIAL OF THE YEAR
WINNER – MARION EWING
Marion Ewing is an excellent Canoe Slalom judge and role model who is a committed volunteer at National and International events as a volunteer. Marion has been involved in officiating the following events over the past year; Australian Open, Oceania Championships, Junior and U23 World Championships, and World Cup 4 and 5. In addition Marion was Chief Judge at the Slalom Australian Nationals and Schools Championships in January 2016 in Tasmania.
AWARD OF MERIT
WINNER – 2016 PARACANOE TEAM
The 2016 Paracanoe team made their mark in the paddling world throughout the 2015/2016 with all 6 members filling all 6 quota spots available for the 2016 Paralympics, the inaugural year for Paracanoe in the games. These outstanding efforts cannot go unnoticed.
WINNER – U23 C1W TEAM
Noemie Fox, Jessica Fox and Georgia Rankin took on the best C1W paddlers from all over the World and placed 3rd, behind Great Britain and France. The team put in outstanding efforts during the World Championships especially as this is the first time the three paddlers competed in the C1W event together.
WINNER – JESSICA FOX
Jess Fox is an outstanding athlete that needs to recognise not only with her C1W team but also as an individual athlete. Jess competed in her 2nd Olympic Games and followed a Silver Medal at the London Olympics with a Bronze at Rio. On top of this, she has consistently made finals and podiums at World Cups and World Championships throughout her career. Jess is also a fabulous role model for all athletes.
SERVICE TO CANOEING
WINNER – DUNCAN COCHRANE
Duncan Cochrane is an inspiration to everyone involved in canoe polo. He is a prime mover, forward looking, challenging and lifting participation, player skills, game tactics and strength in administration. Passionate about the sport’s potential and growth, he generously encourages and involves everyone in its many aspects—off water and on water.
Duncan makes a continuing contribution as a player, coach, referee and administrator that sees Australia a key player on the world stage. His enthusiasm and energy is picked up by others to get involved and so generates a strong sporting community. More than any other individual, Duncan Cochrane has shaped, and continues to shape, canoe polo in Australia. I am excited to nominate him for an award.
WINNER – PETER ECKHARDT
Peter peaked in his personal canoe slalom sporting career representing Australia in Men’s C1 at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. He has since made a massive contribution to athlete development in Tasmania and Nationally. Through his coaching programmes at the Derwent River Canoe Club Tasmanian Juniors, such as Andrew and Kate Eckhardt, and Daniel Watkins, have developed to elite performing athletes. He has been a major contributor to the National Talent Squad, a national talent identification and development programme that has been the initiator of amplification in performance of many now elite level athletes. He continues to be involved with organising development camps and national events and sits on the National Technical committee.
WINNER – PETER MARTIN
Peter has been involved in many areas of canoeing as a volunteer since 1994. He has been a major part of the junior grassroots success of the sport since that time. Peter’s achievements at club and state level have been visibly beneficial for the long-term development of junior paddling. Peter has forged strong relationships with surrounding town and city councils to encourage paddle sports at local Sea Scout groups and schools with participation in events run by local clubs and the State Association.
WINNER – JOHN MOORE
John Moore is a valued member of the Australian Canoe Polo Technical Committee, responsible for the planning and performance of Canoe Polo throughout Australia. His tireless and committed approach to Canoe Polo over many years must be acknowledged and respected. John has supported the Australian Canoe Polo teams as a volunteer for many years and has a strong belief for the players to perform at their best the planning and administration is best managed outside of the playing group. John follows the ethos of players play; coaches coach and manages just mange. John has managed many successful tours very well, why because he is highly regarded by our traveling teams and coaches.
JUNIOR CANOEIST OF THE YEAR – NON-OLYMPIC DISCIPLINE OR CLASS:
WINNER – FERGUS MORGAN
Fergus became the Indian Ocean Paddler U18 Champion for 2015/16 with the best results across the Indian Ocean Paddler’s club series. The 8 races in the series had attached over 80 competitors and Fergus came out on top. At the 2015 Ocean Racing World Championships Fergus won a Bronze medal in the under 18 category.
JUNIOR CANOEIST OF THE YEAR – OLYMPIC DISCIPLINE OR CLASS:
WINNER – DYLAN LITTLEHALES
Dylan has achieved so much in a short period of time. At 16 years of age he is competing on the World stage against athletes much older than himself. His amazing achievement at the World Championships secured him a spot on the Rio Paralympic team. Dylan’s results at the Paralympics is also an amazing achievement.
EXCELLENCE AWARD
WINNER – ROBBIE STEWART
Robbie Stewart is one of Australian Canoeing’s most passionate members where he has given over and above of his own time to help Australian Canoeing progress pulling on his wealth of experience of administration and competitive history from the South African Canoeing Federation before moving to Australia in 1999. Australian Canoeing will sorely miss his knowledge and guidance after he made the decision this year to step back from national activities but will continue supporting and organising the “Manly Paddlers” something he has done since 2012.
Robbie has been involved in many positions over the years of his involvement, including:
2008 Robbie Stewart was appointed to the board of directors for Australian Canoeing where he served until 2014.
2012 to 2016 he chaired the Australian Canoeing’s Ocean Racing Technical Committee
2012 to 2016 a member of the ICF Ocean Racing Technical Committee.
2013 and 2015 national selector for Ocean Racing World Championships.
WINNER – PETER GRANT
Peter has been an active member of the slalom community for over 17 years, since he first judged at a Yarra Series event in 1999. While he prefers to hide in the background, Peter’s hard work and dedication as the chair of the National Canoe Slalom TC has seen him implement a number of policies for the benefit of all athletes, including promoting better guidelines around the safety and the general well being of athletes; promoting fairness in selection policies; and maintaining community awareness of environmental dangers at events. Since gaining his ICF international judging qualifications in 2005, Peter has judged at numerous international events, including the 2016 Rio Olympics; World Championships in 2009 (La Seu d’Urgell), 2014 (Deep Creek), and 2015 (London); and World Cups in 2012 (Cardiff and Augsburg). Peter was also one of the original committee members who founded the Melbourne Canoe Club, their aim being to create a supportive club environment that could provide training, coaching, and racing support to Melbourne based athletes. While his employer would probably prefer he focus on his actual work moving forward, Peter is aiming to continue judging at state, national and international events, with hopes to judge at the Olympics in Tokyo.
TEAM OF THE YEAR
WINNER – SENIOR MEN’S K2 1000M; LACHLAN TAME AND KEN WALLACE
Ken Wallace and Lachlan Tame partnered 2 years ago and have successfully competed as a K2 1000 pairing ever since, winning silver medals at both the 2014 and 2015 Canoe Sprint World Championships, as well as multiple World Cup medals over both seasons as well as the 2016 season. Their success culminated in a podium finish at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, with the duo crossing the line in a close 3rd place to secure a Bronze medal.
PARACANOEIST OF THE YEAR
WINNER – CURTIS MCGRATH
Curtis’s development continued at a rapid rate in the K1, that in a little over 12 months Curtis was the 2016 World Champion in the Men KL2 200m. This was the first time Marcus Swoboda (6-time World Champion) from Austria had been beaten. The friendship and on course rivalry for the pair flowed over to the 2016 Rio Paralympics with Curtis winning the gold medal by more than a boat length. Curtis travelled to Italy to the AIS European Training Centre and spent many weeks training with the Olympic Canoe Sprint Team.
CANOEIST OF THE YEAR – NON-OLYMPIC DISCIPLINE OR CLASS
SPONSORED BY THE AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF SPORT:
WINNER – CORY HILL and JESSICA FOX
Cory once again showed an outstanding performance throughout the Ocean Racing season for 2015/16. Cory became the ICF Open World Champion in 2015 with his 1st place in Tahiti. In 2016 he continued these amazing results with 2nd at the World Cup #1 and 1st at the World Cup #2.
Jessica Fox is the current World no. 1 in the C1W class. Her performances throughout the year have been outstanding. In the last year she has:
2015 World Championships
C1W Gold
C1W Senior team Gold
U23 C1W team Bronze
World Cup 1 – Gold
World Cup 3 – Silver
World Cup 4 – Gold
World Cup 5 – Silver
CANOEIST OF THE YEAR – OLYMPIC DISCIPLINE OR CLASS
SPONSORED BY THE AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF SPORT:
WINNER – CURTIS MCGRATH
Curtis’s development continued at a rapid rate in the K1, that in a little over 12 months Curtis was the 2016 World Champion in the Men KL2 200m. This was the first time Marcus Swoboda (6-time World Champion) from Austria had been beaten. The friendship and on course rivalry for the pair flowed over to the 2016 Rio Paralympics with Curtis winning the gold medal by more than a boat length. Curtis travelled to Italy to the AIS European Training Centre and spent many weeks training with the Olympic Canoe Sprint Team.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE:
WINNER – AMANDA REYNOLDS
PRESIDENT’S AWARD:
WINNER – BERNADETTE WALLACE