Hinuera wins Team of the Year
Hinuera Bowling Club was among the big winners at this year’s Brian Perry Waikato Regional Sports Awards.
The Hinuera Bowling Club Ladies Premier A Interclub team won the Lodge Real Estate Club Team of the Year title.
The awards event was run by Sport Waikato and held in Hamilton on Thursday night.
Among its achievements in 2017, the Hinuera Ladies Premier A Interclub team was named New Zealand Champions of the Premier A division.
The organisers of the awards said the win for Hinuera was an outstanding achievement for a club that was the smallest club, per capita, to have ever won the New Zealand Premier A Championship.
The Hinuera team was the only Matamata-Piako finalist to win an award.
Other finalists from the district included Sam Weatherley (racing), a finalist in the Emerging Talent award, Tatiana Kaumoana (athletics), a finalist in the Secondary Schools Sportswoman award, Cailen Calkin (BMX), Secondary Schools Sportsman finalist and Brodie Connolly (motocross), Secondary Schools Sportsman finalist.
The awards event aimed to showcase and celebrate sporting achievement from grassroots clubs through to high performance level.
Seventy individuals, teams, clubs and events from around the region were selected as finalists from more than 600 nominations received for the awards.
Hamilton All Black Damian McKenzie and South Waikato Black Fern Toka Natua won the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year titles respectively, with Team of the Year going to the Bayleys Midlands NHL Women’s Hockey team.
Natua won the overall Supreme Award for Sporting Excellence for an outstanding performance at the Rugby World Cup.
Other winners included the Cambridge Twilight Cycling Festival for the Innovation in Sport & Recreation award, for the cycling event, Waikato Rugby Union and Chiefs rugby player Luke Jacobson winning the Emerging Talent award, New Zealand Parkour’s Damien Puddle picking up the award for Administrator of the Year for his commitment to the sport.