Sportsman of the Year nominees

Thirty-one nominees have been put forward, across five categories, for the 55th annual Marlborough Sports Awards.

Although the ever-popular awards dinner will not be held this year due to Covid restraints, judging will still take place and the category winners, plus overall Sportsperson of the Year trophy recipient, will be announced in the Marlborough Weekly and on the Marlborough App, on Tuesday, November 16.

The Marlborough App, along with Sport Tasman and Blenheim Round Table, are the main organisers of the awards.

Today we profile the 10 nominees in our largest category, the New World Blenheim Sportsman of the Year.

First up is road cyclist Ethan Batt who has enjoyed success at home and abroad. In April he showed his class with a win in the NZ Club Championship Road Individual elite time trial and was fourth in the NZ Club Championship elite road race. Ethan rode for the Black Spoke team in Europe from May to September. Included among his many fine results was a second overall placing in the King of the Mountain class in the Course Cycliste de Solidarnose et des Champions Olympiques, plus a ninth place in the same category at the Tour d'Eure-et-Loir.

Alastair Gifford is the sailing nominee and is making moves on the International scene. The 22-year-old has been heavily involved with Youth Match Racing, which helped him land a spot on the highly coveted Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s Youth America’s Cup Team. Alastair won the 2021 National Keelboat championships, outpacing a fleet of experienced sailors. He then travelled to USA and competed in the four-leg, USA Grand Slam of Sailing. He won the Chicago Cup and the Detroit Cup legs, was sixth in the Oakcliff International then claimed the overall title with a third in the Thompson Cup, earning an invitation to the prestigious Congressional Cup next year.

Table tennis player Alex Kennedy is one of the top players in the province, who is heavily involved in coaching and club affairs. In local play, he won the first tournament of the season and was runner-up to Nathan Watson in the Marlborough Closed Men's Singles. He has also travelled to many outside tournaments , with his best results being a win, with Watson, in the Nelson Open A grade doubles,  and the U21 singles. At the Canterbury Open and North Island champs he qualified for the A grade singles. He also played well for Marlborough at the South island Teams Tournament in Christchurch and was unbeaten in singles in the Perry Shield against Nelson.

Tarin Mason is the cricket nominee after being named the Marlborough association's player of the year for the 2020-21 season. Selected for Marlborough primarily as a bowling all-rounder Tarin was a revelation with the bat last summer, finishing leading representative run scorer and highest average with 320 runs at 52.33 and a highest score of 97 not out in the Newman Shield match against Nelson. In club cricket he was sixth leading run scorer and fifth-highest wicket taker.

Olympic gold medallist Tom Murray is the men’s rowing nominee after reaching the pinnacle of his sport with victory in the New Zealand men’s eight at the Tokyo Games. This was an outstanding achievement especially after his crew had to travel to Switzerland in May this year to compete in the “last chance regatta” in a bid to gain qualification for the Olympics. Not only did they have to complete two weeks in MIQ when they came home before they could complete their preparation for the Olympics, they become the first crew to win a place at the last chance regatta to go on and win gold at the Olympics. Tom has been a member of the Blenheim Rowing Club since 2009.

Andy Peter is the clay target shooting nominee. The Awatere resident is a consistently high achiever in his sport, both in NZ and overseas. Some of his recent achievements include winning the 2020 NZ Skeet High Gun champion title, taking out the 2020 NZ 12g Skeet championship, prevailing in the 2020 NZ Skeet long run champs over 362 targets then adding the title of 2021 Australian 410 bore champion to his list of notable successes.

Last year’s Marlborough Sportsperson of the Year, track cyclist Callum Saunders capped another strong season with a strong showing at the Tokyo Olympics, despite travelling to the Games as team reserve. At the New Zealand track nationals he finished second in his specialist Keirin event. In Tokyo he came in to the sprint team after injury to one of the other riders, helping them achieve a seventh placing overall. He then rode in the keirin, reaching the quarterfinals where he was eliminated, ending up a creditable 13th place overall.

Water polo coach Paul Sell has put in the hard yards over the past 12 months, spending at least 10 hours per day coaching and mentoring the under12 and under 14 water players. Recently the team has just finished second in the South Island intermediate Tournament, a top achievement from such a small region. Paul’s input has created the backbone of the water polo club for the years to come with these kids expected to provide the mainstay for under age and school teams for the next five years.

Nathan Watson is the second table tennis player nominated in this category. He is the top-ranked player in Marlborough, who is also heavily involved in coaching and committee work. Nathan won all three senior titles at the Marlborough Closed in August and took out the Half Way Tournament in July. He has also travelled widely with his best results coming at the North Island Championships, where he made the last 16 in the A grade singles and the semi-final of the A grade mixed doubles, alongside Jacqui Wood. At the Otago Open he made the last 16 of the A Grade singles. He also played well for Marlborough at the South island Teams in Christchurch and won eight from eight in the Perry Shield match against Nelson.

Our final nominee is Ian Woolley, from the sport of ploughing. Ian won the New Zealand Silver Plough contest in the conventional class at Riversdale, Southland, in April, his seventh New Zealand title in eight years. This is the most times a competitor has won the Silver Plough in its 64 years of competition. Ian and the New Zealand ploughing team should have been in the Republic of Ireland in September this year but due to Covid-19 this World contest was cancelled. Now Ian and the team hope to travel to St. Petersburg, Russia for the World contest in August 2022. Ian is the current Vice President on the New Zealand Ploughing executive and is on the organizing committee for Marlborough Ploughing which is holding the New Zealand contest in Blenheim May, 2022.

Tomorrow we preview our final batch of nominees, the WK Advisors and Accountants Team of the Year prospects.