Canterbury/Tasman Awards of Excellence results

Over 50 Canterbury/Tasman residents were officially recognised for their hard work and dedication to saving lives on their local beaches last night at the 2014 Canterbury/Tasman Surf Life Saving Awards of Excellence.

The celebration of surf lifesaving took place at the South Brighton Surf Life Saving Club.

One of the night's top awards, Volunteer of the Year, was awarded to Steve Johnston QSM of the Waimairi Surf Life Saving Club.

Steve has been a member of the club for over 40 years and this year he held the roles of club committee member, instructor, patrol captain and patrol manager along with sitting as chair of the local lifesaving committee- all this on top of volunteering over 50 hours on patrol during the summer

Surf Life Saving Southern Regional Manager Stu Bryce says Steve has given up countless hours, not only this year, but over the past decades and he truly deserves this recognition.

The night's other top awards included Lifeguard of the Year and Rescue of the Year. Lifeguard of the Year was awarded to Dan Bromley from Taylors Mistake Surf Life Saving Club and Rescue of the Year was awarded to South Brighton for a mass rescue that took place on December 7, 2013.

This involved eight lifeguards, many of whom are also past national title holders, including Brad Wilson, John Creighton, Rochelle Creighton, Sol Somerville, Millie Johnston, Ben Keys, Quinn McNaughton and Rohan McNaughton.

Mr Bryce says in the past year, members of the local clubs have saved over 115 lives, contributed over 10,000 volunteer hours patrolling beaches and delivered beach safety education to over 5,000 kids. "These actions are the expression of our values, and it's the best of those values we celebrate with our awards," he says.

Visit the SLSNZ Southern Region Facebook page to view the photos. 

Award recipients:

Club of the Year: Spencer Park
Volunteer of the Year: Steve Johnston QSM
Lifeguard of the Year: Dan Bromley
Instructor/Examiner of the Year: Hannah Laughton
Regional Guard of the Year: Sam Clutterbuck
Rescue of the Year: South Brighton (Brad Wilson, John Creighton, Rochelle Creighton, Ben Keys, Millie Johnston, Sol Somerville, Quinn McNaughtan, Rohan McNaughtan)
Regional Service Awards: Mark Robberds, Hannah Laughton
Top Junior Club: Waimairi
Official of the Year: Blair Dickson
Coach of the Year: Fraser Bickley
Sportsperson of the Year: Ben Phillips
Sports Team of the Year: Waimairi Open Men's Canoe
Top IRB Club: North Beach

Top Athletes
U14: Declan Dempster - Waimairi
U16: Seb Johnson - Sumner
U19: Hilary Harper - New Brighton
Open: Ben Phillips - Taylor Mistake
Southern Surf League: Taylors Mistake
KDay: 
Black and White - North Beach
Kesteven Cup - South Brighton
Oliver Turpin - South Brighton

For more information, please contact:

Lisa Honeybone, Media & Communications Specialist, SLSNZ
Phone 09 303 9335 or 0276 488 823
Email lisa.honeybone@surflifesaving.org.nz