Sportswoman 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 eight nominees in the MoreFM Sportswoman of the Year category.

First up is hockey goalkeeper Grace Davies, whose enthusiasm and positive attitude are a big part of her successful season, especially in the A women’s rep team. She led the team well and played a big part of keeping Marlborough in the game, especially in the deciders against Nelson which helped Marlborough retain the Ken Beech and Pope Shield for 2021. She topped off her strong season by making the Tasman Districts women’s team.

Lawn bowler Jan Gallop continues to produce consistently strong performances on the region’s greens. For the second year in succession Jan won the Bowler of the year award for Bowls Marlborough. In winning the award Jan won 10 centre titles and attended two national finals, representing Marlborough.

A silver medal-winning performance at the  Tokyo Olympics sees Ella Greenslade get the women’s rowing nomination. Ella was part of the NZ women’s eight at the Games, who finished second in a thrilling final. This capped off an outstanding year for Ella which started off with a silver medal in the women’s pair at the national championships in February. She teamed up with fellow Central RPC athlete Kerry Gowler for this event and has been a member of the Wairau Rowing Club since 2014.

Multisporter Mandy MacFarlane showed her prowess across a variety of gruelling events this past 12 months. She came second in Open Women’s Team (as the paddler) at Coast to Coast and 14th overall in the GodZone Adventure Race. Her team were one of the 21 teams, out of the original 50, who completed the gruelling full course. She also bagged a Top 10 finish in the Spring Challenge 9hr race and claimed a top 5 finish in the Spirited Women 9hr event.

Netballer Jordan Peipi picked up some significant silverware at the Marlborough association’s prizegiving. She was voted most outstanding senior midcourt player and then named Netballer of the Year. She was also nominated for her volunteer work in her role as coach for MGC. Jordan’s skill set is ever-improving, reading play astutely while bringing energy and intelligence to the defensive role. She is very much a team player and was a vital part of the Pelorus premier team’s success this year.

Tara Smith has been nominated for her kayaking prowess. She competed in the Darcy Price Ocean Surfski series, a qualifying series for the world champs, with top results. Tara was first open woman in the King/Queen of the Bay, then fourth at both the Nationals and the Virtual Surfski Champs. In the overall series results she came fifth, despite attending only three of the six events. Tara thus qualified for the World Surfski champs, although no Kiwis attended due to Covid. She also won the South Island Surfski womens open champs and all the women’s events at the Nelson Surfski Club Summer Series 2020/2021.

Tomorrow we will profile the New World Blenheim Sportsman of the Year category.