Dane Lett on the attack for Dalefield against Northern United in 2020. PHOTOS/FILE
SPORTS AWARDS
CHRIS COGDALE
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Black Stick Dane Lett has won the Supreme Award at the Wairarapa Times-Age Sports Awards and the Back in Action Senior Sports Personality of the Year for the second consecutive time.
On Monday night Lett was named the winner of the region’s premier sports award during an online ceremony from the Carterton Events Centre. The gala event was cancelled because of restrictions around the covid-19 alert levels.
Coach of the Year Mark Harris, Official of the Year Rebecca Mahoney, and Disabled Sports Personality Josh Taylor, and the Featherston Amateur Wrestling Club are other 2019 winners to repeat their success this year.
Lett was an integral member of the Black Sticks team in the International Hockey Pro League and the successful Olympic qualifying series for the Tokyo Games against South Korea in November 2019. He also won a silver medal with the Blacks Sticks at the 2019 Oceania Cup in Rockhampton.
Since being recalled to the Black Sticks in 2017, Lett has not missed an international and has now amassed 88 caps, including matches at the Olympics [The Tokyo games were outside the award criteria and were not considered in the judging process].
Lett’s class and experience stood out for the Central Falcons in their inaugural National Premier League win in 2020. Previously he had played for the Capital Cobras side in the 2019 National League.
Lett was also player-coach for the Dalefield premier men’s and guided them to consecutive Wellington premier championship victories in 2019 and 2020, bringing their tally to four titles in six years and confirming their place as one of the dominant forces in Wellington.
Harris coached numerous athletes to success at national and secondary school championships.
Top of the list was promising middle-distance runner Liam Lamb, who won the national Under-20 3000m titles and qualified for the World University Games.
Mahoney became the first woman to officiate a Ranfurly Shield rugby challenge when she controlled the Otago v North Otago game in 2019.
She was also the first woman to referee a Mitre 10 Cup game – Hawke’s Bay v Southland in Napier.
Taylor won numerous medals in national and regional para-athletics events, including three gold medals at the 2020 national secondary school championships in the senior T20 long jump, javelin, and shot put.
Promising cricketer Jake Jonas won the Youth Sports Personality of the Year after an outstanding season with the bat in 2020-21.
The Rathkeale student scored 872 runs, including three centuries for the school, and represented Wairarapa and Central Districts Under-17s.
Junior Sports Personality Alexandria Anstis has overcome being diagnosed with leukaemia as a two-year-old to achieve success in the equestrian arena. In 2020, Anstis won the U-12 national pairs and individual championships and the national U-14 title in her first competition at that level. She is also a national spearfishing record holder with an 800g leather jacket.
Chanel College student Nikita Johnstone is the winner of Junior Official of the Year for officiating badminton.
Winner of the Administrator of the Year Kath Houliston has worked hard building a successful netball programme at Wairarapa College. That involves co-ordinating more than 150 girls to play in Wairarapa’s premier and senior competitions. Houliston also manages Waicol’s netball umpiring academy formed to train aspiring umpires.
Blue Hansen was a popular winner on the night, taking out the Volunteer of the Year Award and the People’s Choice Award, the latter decided by public vote.
The Wairarapa men’s bowls team won the hotly contested Team of the Year for winning a bronze medal at the 2021 national intercentre championships. Wairarapa qualified for the quarterfinals, where they beat Manawatu. In the end, they came within one bowl of beating Auckland and making the final.
The St Matthew’s Collegiate First XI cricket team took out the Youth Sports Team of the Year for two top-three finishes at the Gillette Venus Cup national finals. St Matt’s finished third in 2019 and bettered that with a runner-up finish in 2020.
Winners of the Junior Sports Team, the Featherston Wrestling Club continue to punch above their weight, winning 10 medals, including six golds at the 2019 national club championships, and eight medals [three gold] at both the 2019 and 2020 National Championships.
Dalefield’s success in the Wellington premier hockey championship led to victory in the Club of the Year. The men’s side won two consecutive titles in 2019 and 2020, and the women won in 2020.
A new strategy for sport in 2019 saw Kuranui College win the College of the Year, while St Matthew’s won the Primary School of the Year with some remarkable achievements in cricket, football, and netball for a school of only 35 students.
The Wairarapa Sports Education Trust also announced the three recipients of the annual scholarships – Waicol and Dalefield premier women’s hockey player Amy Bunny, NZ Maori Secondary Schoolgirls cricket captain Ocean Bartlett, and up-and-coming boxer Daisee Omundsen, a Golden Gloves winner and Wellington novice gold medal winner.
2020-21 ROLL OF HONOUR
Wairarapa Times-Age Supreme Award
Dane Lett
Back in Action Senior Sports Personality of the Year
Dane Lett
Property Brokers Primary School of the Year
St Matthew’s Collegiate School
Wairarapa Hunting & Fishing College of the Year
Kuranui College
Osborne Group Junior Sports Team of the Year
Featherston Amateur Wrestling Club
Stirling Sports Masterton Youth Sports Team of the Year
St Matthew’s Collegiate School First XI Cricket
The Hubb Senior Sports Team of the Year
Wairarapa Men’s Bowls Team
G.J. Gardner Homes Wairarapa Sports Club of the Year
Dalefield Hockey
dpa Accountants Volunteer of the Year
Blue Hansen
Bryans Furniture Administrator of the Year
Kath Houliston
Masterton District Council Junior Official of the Year
Nikita Johnstone
Masterton District Council Official of the Year
Rebecca Mahoney
Highmark Homes Coach of the Year
Mark Harris
Breadcraft Junior Sports Personality of the Year
Alexandria Anstis
Jennian Homes Wairarapa Youth Sports Personality of the Year
Jake Jonas
Mitre 10 MEGA Masterton Disabled Sports Personality of the Year
Josh Taylor
PAK’n SAVE People’s Choice Award
Blue Hansen
Core Legal Lifetime Achievement Award
Mark Elliott
