The NZME Masters Achievement award celebrates sporting achievement at masters level and beyond.

This year’s category winner will be unveiled at the ILT Southland Sports Awards on June 7 at Ascot Park Hotel, along with six other categories and the coveted BDO Services to Sport acknowledgements.

This year’s finalists include touch, athletics, bowls and cycling.

Dwight Grieve continues to be one of Southland’s best runners at any level and across most distances, a fact highlighted by his selection in the New Zealand men’s open team for the world mountain running championships. Grieve also won masters titles in the 10,000m at the New Zealand road championships and the New Zealand trail running championships.

Greg Houkamau will represent New Zealand at the Touch Masters World Cup later this year. With no Southland masters team available, he was part of the winning Auckland 50s team and also spends a lot of time coaching at the youth level in Southland.

Gail Kirkman bagged seven gold medals in her over 70s age group at the New Zealand masters athletics championships in Christchurch, including setting a new national record in the high jump with a leap of 1.14m.

Julie O’Connell made the most of para-bowling’s debut at the 2023 world championships, teaming up with Teri Blackbourn to win the pairs world title after a hard-fought final against world number one Scotland. The pair topped their section with six wins from seven matches before seeing off Thailand in the semi-final, and beat the Scots 14 to 8.

 

Cyclist Ruth Whelan returned home from October’s UCI Masters World Championship with a full set of medals including bronze in the team sprint, silver in the individual sprint and a gold medal in the 500m time trial. Whelan also won three national titles and broke two of her own national records at the New Zealand age group champs.

The ILT Southland Sports Awards are presented by Active Southland on behalf of the Southland Amateur Sports Trust and are New Zealand’s longest-running regional sports awards.

Article added: Saturday 01 June 2024