Walsh wins Canterbury’s supreme sports award
Double world shot put champion Tom Walsh has won Canterbury’s top sporting award.
The 26-year-old part-time builder won the Nexia New Zealand Supreme Canterbury Sportsperson of the Year at Friday night’s function at the Wigram Air Force Museum.
Walsh became a first time winner at the Canterbury Sports Awards – previously the Timaruborn field athlete was eligible only for the South Canterbury Sports Awards.
Fresh from winning the world indoor title in Birmingham last weekend, Walsh took home the Canterbury Sportsman of the Year crown to go with his New Zealand Sportsman of the Year title at February’s Halberg Awards.
Walsh was recognised for a stellar season in 2017, capped by becoming the first New Zealand male to win a world track and field championships gold medal.
He won the Canterbury supreme award from last year’s champion, swimmer Sophie Pascoe, who picked up the Canterbury Sportswoman of the Year title for the second consecutive year, along with the gong for top athlete with a disability.
Former All Black Scott Robertson – the first man to win a Super Rugby title as a player and as a coach – clinched the Canterbury Coach of the Year award for guiding the Crusaders to their first championship victory since 2008.
Robertson won the most hotly contested category of the evening, with the list of finalists including Walsh’s mentor, Dale Stevenson.
There was no accolade, however, for the Crusaders, who were not nominated for the Team of the Year prize, despite winning the Super Rugby title in Johannesburg.
The Canterbury Rugby Union could only put forward one team so plumped for the Canterbury women’s title, who won their first national title in 2017.
They picked up the Team of the Year crown, beating Canterbury’s Plunket Shield winning men’s cricket team, the Canterbury Wildcats women’s basketball team and the Canterbury boxing squad.
New names also featured among the award winners with golfer Amelia Garvey taking the Young Sportswoman of the Year award.
Garvey – soon to take up a golf scholarship at a prominent United States university – was a recipient of the 2018 Lydia Ko Scholarship, which enables Ko to give back to the game by inspiring the next generation of female golfers, and help grow the number of New Zealanders competing with her on the LPGA Tour.
Promising rugby player Tom Christie won the Young Sportsman of the Year.
Sport Canterbury continued its recent trend of including disabled sportspeople in general categories with Pascoe picking up the Sportswoman of the Year prize and middle distance track runner William Stedman among the Young Sportsman finalists.
Two prominent personalities were inducted as Sporting Legends of Canterbury – former Canterbury, Warriors and Kiwis rugby league coach Frank Endacott and hockey’s Pat Barwick, a former New Zealand captain and coach.
Sport Canterbury chief executive Julyan Falloon said 130 nominations were received from 30 sports.
‘‘As a region, Canterbury has access to world class coaching and an exceptional sports club system,’’ said Falloon who noted how Canterbury’s ‘‘countless
volunteers have influenced sporting success on the world stage’’.
‘‘We are not the largest province in New Zealand, yet Canterbury sport continues to be associated with excellence around the world.’’
Falloon said the nine Lifetime
Achievement Category recognised in 2018 had ‘‘an average of 40 years of contributions to sport in Canterbury’’.
He said 17 people were nominated for Coach of the Year, which was a tribute to the ‘‘outstanding quality of coaching in this region’’.