Walsh pipped by rower for Canty sports award
Double world champion rower Grace Prendergast has beaten shot put star Tom Walsh to the 2020 Canterbury Sportsperson of the Year title in an online ceremony on Friday night.
Walsh won the Canterbury sportsman of the year title for a third consecutive year, but was edged out for the ORIX New Zealand supreme award by Prendergast – a two-time world rowing championships gold medallist in 2019.
Prendergast – the number one ranked female rower in the world in 2019 – topped a strong sportswoman category featuring Silver Ferns netball World Cup winner Jane Watson, world pro hockey league top scorer Olivia Merry and multiple world recordbreaking Para swimmer Sophie Pascoe.
The 27-year-old Prendergast first won the world women’s pair title in 2017 with crewmate Kerri Gowler.
They successfully defended their crown at the 2019 world championships in Austria, with Prendergast noting at the time that it was ‘‘the closest race I’ve ever been in, which made it even more special’’.
Prendergast and Gowler were also part of New Zealand’s first gold medal winning women’s eight.
They won the world rowing female crew of the year award for 2019.
Their coach, Gary Hay, won the Sport Canterbury coach of the year award, to make Prendergast’s night even more special.
He headed Walsh’s mentor Dale Stevenson, Pascoe’s longtime coach Roly Crichton, and cycling’s Andrew Williams, who all achieved international success in 2019.
Walsh – a bronze medallist in one of the most exciting shot put finals of alltime at the 2019 world championships in Doha – won the top sportsman accolade from Crusaders captain and All Blacks lock Sam Whitelock and Black
Sticks hockey striker Sam Lane.
There was some consolation for the Crusaders as the 10-time Super Rugby champions won the outstanding team of the year for a second consecutive year.
Phoebe Trolove, a world junior rowing champion, completed a treble for her sport by winning the junior sportswoman of the year title.
The Timaru-raised rower was part of the gold medal winning under-23 women’s quadruple sculls crew at the World Junior Rowing Championships in Tokyo in 2019.
Kazuma Kobori took home the outstanding young sportsman award after winning the New Zealand PGA title, beating a field of senior golfers, including seasoned professionals, by four shots at Pegasus in March 2019 while just 17 years old.
The awards ceremony was streamed live through Sport Canterbury’s Facebook page and on the We Are Canterbury social media channels, with organisers expecting ‘‘a worldwide audience of 10,000 people’’.
‘‘The circumstances around Covid19 have encouraged innovation, which has allowed us to take these celebrations far wider than ever before,’’ Sport Canterbury chief executive Julyan Falloon said.
‘‘It has really strengthened our commitment to see Cantabrians honoured for their achievements on the sporting stage, their achievements as the best of the best in New Zealand, and in many cases, in the world.’’
The number of nominations for the 2020 awards rose to 160 across 40 different codes, with nine new sports featured for the first time.