Athletics East Annual Award Nominees 2014_2015

Athletics East Annual Award 2015

It has been an outstanding year of performances for AE Athletes. From juniors to seniors, novice to experienced, community to elite, many have achieved the ultimate by recording Personal Best performances. This has been one of the hardest years to determine our trophy winners. The diversity of performances make simple judging nonexistent, many factors are taken into consideration and carefully analyzed to arrive at trophy winners.

I would like to congratulate all nominees on their outstanding performances. I also acknowledge and congratulate all the many club members that have progressed and achieved improvement this year.

Most Improved Athlete Of The Year

This award recognizes your effort/dedication and values your performance wherever you finish against the competition as you have achieved your personal best.

This is the clubs ultimate trophy and it encapsulates our total philosophy.

It is an award that can be won by ANY AE CLUB MEMBER; it is not based on elite performance. All athletes that have improved are in contention and all are winners in their own right.

The award can be won by an athlete recording numerous PB’s (over the same distance/event or many distances/events) or a single but significant PB (i.e. a long standing PB as age makes it more difficult to achieve).

The award also recognizes the long climb back to fitness and performance after injury, illness or break from the sport.

All performances are reviewed individually with respect being given to single pb’s as well as multiple improvements. This recognizes the different frequencies of competition that some events can tolerate. The marathon for example requires a very specialized approach and normally would only be contested once or twice a year.

Nominees:

Sarahjane Beattie:

Third year with club and this year focused on the Marathon after another progressive track season.

Track 200, 400 x 3, 800
Gold Coast Marathon
City To Surf
ANSW Half Marathon

Nicole Berridge:

A Community runner that progressed to reach the State 400m track final.

Track 200, 400 x 2, 800 x 4

James Constantine:

A progressive first year in the club taking in a broad spectrum of events:

Track 1500, 5000
ANSW 10km road champs
City To Surf
ANSW Half Marathon

Jude Gregory:

Great return to PB performances from the former 2011-12 joint winner of this award. Jude has courageously battled an achilles injury over the previous few years.

Track 1500
SMH Half Marathon
ANSW 4km Road Relays
ANSW Short Course Cross Country 5km
Tony Brown Club 10km

Gillian Sohun:

A big year for the 2006-07 previous winner of this award. Gillian had a stellar year with an incredible string of results following the Australian Masters track champs in April.

Track 10000
Novice 10km Cross Country
ANSW 10Km Road Champs
SMH Half Marathon
ANSW Road Relays 4km
ANSW Short Course Cross Country 5km
City To Surf
Tony Brown 10km
ANSW Half Marathon
Blackmores Half Marathon

Naomi Tancred:

Strong year culminating in Gold Coast Marathon PB:

Track 800, 1500 x 2, 5000
NSW Mountain Champs
Gold Coast Marathon
Tony Brown Club 10km

Hugo Whitehead:

Talented junior broke the U16 Club 200m record and in doing so broke the club Open, U20 and U18 records. In the 100m broke the record for the U16, U18 & U20.

Track 100 x 5, 200 x 2

Maisie Stevens:

Another talented junior recording U16 records for 100 and 200
Track 100 x 2, 200 x 4

Special Mention:

Veronica Chan: Excellent first year with club embracing all events

Lisa Biffin: Following birth of first child “Indi” returned to fitness and posted some outstanding times culminating in an excellent 4km Road Relay team leg.

Club Person Of The Year

This is for consistent outstanding work and support for the club.

Nominees:

Lisa Biffin

Produced outstanding Club Newsletter throughout the year.
Club social media postings were handled swiftly and also results and events postings on website. She took on numerous tasks to make the club anniversary evening a huge success.

Jane Boyd

Another great O’45 team managing effort resulting in 1^st place for the team. Club official uniform officer and also successfully coordinated volunteers for Rugby fund raiser

Iris Good

Excellent assistant club coach and always there to help with all administration duties. Spends most weekends trawling through race results for club members for statistics and club records. Iris was ever present at all Club events to assist with event /team management and club registration.

Tony Brown Memorial Trophy

The athlete that has consistently competed & represented plus supported the club throughout the year.

Footnote: Tony Brown was club captain, statistician / committee member and embraced both distance and track running. His support and interest in all club members is legendary. His family donated this award in his memory.

Nominees

Gillian Sohun

Jude Gregory

Mark Gregory

Lisa Biffin

Jane Boyd

Sarah Jane Beattie

Naomi Tancred

Best Female Performance

The best performance by a female athlete from the year. This is judged on individual achievement not necessarily high profile performance.

Nominees:

Gillian Sohun

State Masters 10000 champs – PB

Gillian Sohun

ANSW Half Marathon – PB

Emily McKenzie

Novice 7.5km – 2^nd Place

Nicole Berridge

ANSW Open State Champs 400m – PB 6^th place

Maisie Stevens

200m (24.65) PB in heat at Australian Junior titles Club Open record (15 years old)

Sarah Jane Beattie

Gold Coast Marathon – PB

Naomi Tancred

Gold Coast Marathon – PB

Lisa Biffin

ANSW 4km Road Relays – PB

Best Male Performance

The best performance by a male athlete from the year. This is judged on individual achievement not necessarily high profile performance.

Nominees:

Weizhen (Nero) Zhang

Bridge Run – 35:03 sub 4min per km (excellent for a high jumper!)

Kevin O’Brien

ANSW Half Marathon – PB – 5^th overall place

Matt Hassall

City To Surf – PB (12 mins faster than 2014)

Hugo Whitehead

Track – Australian Junior Champs 100m placed 2^nd in 11:03 (also ran a 10:94 wind assisted 100) Club Open record (15 years Old)

Christopher Zinn

City To Surf – PB (10 mins faster than 2013)

Fun Runner of the Year

The community registered athlete that has performed with distinction and or represented, supported the club in Fun Runs throughout the year. Also their position in the club point score counts towards this award.

Nominees:

Mathew Hassall

Joined after attending a local learn to run course tutored by Wayne Morgan. Placed first in the Community Runner club point score table in a tight battle that was separated by only two points from 1^st to third (Mike Parker 2^nd, Martin Cosby 3rd).

Ran City To Surf and achieved an huge 12 min PB.

Christopher Zinn

First year with club and notched up the most runs by competing in 5 races. Standout performance was a 10 min PB for City to Surf.

Rosemary Bridge

Finished 2^nd female in Community Runner club point score running an incredible 5 events (2 events was the average participation rate for Females)

Michael Parker

Consistent runner and motivator who won this award last year. Mike continues to show improvement yet offers encouragement to all level of runners and will sacrifice his own run time to assist the improving fun runners.

Martin Cosby

Martin is always out in the lead on our Monday night squad runs and regularly shares his extensive running experiences to others just starting out. Martin is threatening to introduce his running widow Helen and daughter Imogen, to the club real soon. Then he can return to his passion of writing short stories that spook readers globally. Martin’s objective for 2016 is to stay injury free and out in front!

Cedric Sidebottom Award

This an encouragement award to recognize the community registered athlete’s effort, enthusiasm and improvement.

Nominees:

Sally Gordon

As per Matt Hassall joined after attending a local learn to run course tutored by Wayne Morgan. First place female in the Community Runner club point score table.

Standout performances included Sri Chinmoy Half marathon and City To Surf.

Ed Piazza

Injury had curtailed progress in previous seasons for Ed. This year he managed his condition successfully culminating in a SMH Half marathon and City To Surf PB (by 4mins)

Christopher Zinn

Chris attended Wayne Morgan’s community running class and has improved enormously since then. Fitting in loads of running between his many media calls, Chris is very much a regular to the Funrunner scene and is worthy of this nomination.

Daniel Novak

Not just a champion lawn bowler, Daniel has increased his weekly mileage with a marked improvement in his pace and humour. He is aiming to run as fast as he can swallow a schooner and is well on his way to achieve that and some trail runs in the next year.

Club Point Score

Female point score winner – Lisa Biffin

Male point score winner – Kevin O’Brien

Winner of the Tony Brown Memorial 10km (Club Road Camps):

Female Club 10km Road Champion – Lisa Biffin

Male Club 10km Road Champion – Kevin O’Brien

Winner of the Club Cross Country Camps:

Female Cross Country Champion – Lisa Biffin

Male Cross Country Champion – Kevin O’Brien