2016 Otago-Southland Awards of Excellence winners

Surf lifeguards who patrol beaches across Otago and Southland have been honoured for their hard work and dedication to saving lives at the 2016 Otago/Southland Awards of Excellence.

The awards were held at the Lone Star Café and Bar last night. 

One of the night's top awards, Volunteer of the Year, was awarded to Owen West from Oreti Surf Life Saving Club. He was awarded the Les Jordan Memorial Trophy in honour of Mr Jordan who died on February 5, 1964 in a shark attack at St Clair Beach.

Owen has assisted and put a huge amount of time and effort in to the rebuilding of his club back to a sustainable position. This individual is the go-to man of Oreti Serf Life Saving Club as he mentors a number of programmes to keep all areas functioning to a high standard.

Lifeguard of the Year was awarded to Nic Brice from St Kilda Surf Life Saving Club.

Nic has really stepped up in the lifeguarding role this season. He received third highest volunteer hours at his club, with most being as the Patrol Captain. He has assisted with several training programmes to develop the younger guards through their lifeguarding qualifications and has been involved in a number of rescues down at St Kilda over the summer.

Owen and Nic will go on to be finalists in the national SLSNZ Awards of Excellence in September.

Club of the Year was awarded to Oreti and Rescue of the Year was awarded to St Clair for a rescue that took place in February 2016. This rescue took out the award for the great effort this team of four St Clair lifeguards put in to save two foreign tourists from Seconds Beach. The diverse range of skills from all was highlighted with one member swimming over 150m to get the victim back to shore safely.

Surf Life Saving New Zealand (SLSNZ) Club Support Officer for Otago/Southland Sam Clutterbuck says the awards are an exciting time on the calendar for local members. "It's a great opportunity to celebrate all that they have achieved after a busy season and these titles are well deserved for our award winners," he says.

Surf Life Saving Clubs in the Otago/Southland area include Warrington, St Kilda, St Clair, Brighton, Kaka Point and Oreti.

Click here to view photos.

Award winners:

Les Jordan Memorial Trophy (Volunteer of the Year)
Owen West - Oreti
Nominations: Colin Weatherall - Brighton, Mark Lane - Brighton, Owen West - Oreti, Brent Wolf - St Clair, James Coombes - St Clair, Rachel Oakley - St Kilda

Innovation of the Year
Max Corboy: Radio Network - St Kilda
Nominations: St Kilda SLSC delivering the South Island IRB Champs, Max Corboy: Radio Network - St Kilda

Duke Gillies Memorials Trophy (Coach of the Year)
Michael Trembath - St Clair
Nominations: Dave McPhee - Brighton, Frederick Michael - Oreti, Isaac Davies - St Clair Michael Trembath - St Clair

Sports Person of the Year
Erika Fairweather - St Clair
Nominations: Gabrielle Trotter - Brighton, Erika Fairweather - St Clair

Sport Team of the Year
U21 IRB Team - St Clair
Nominations: U19 Woman's Canoe Team - Brighton, Open Woman's Relay Team - St Clair,
U21 IRB Team - St Clair

Instructor of the Year
Alex Sutherland - Brighton
Nominations: Alex Sutherland - Brighton, Ossian Woods - St Clair, Peter Gibbons - St Kilda

Surf Official of the Year
Doug Henderson - Kaka Point
Nominations: Doug Henderson - Kaka Point, Michael Andrew - St Clair, Peter Gibbons - St Kilda

Presidents Trophy
James Coombes - St Clair

Event Guard of the Year
Matthew Bradley - St Clair
Nominations: Mat Walters - Brighton, Matthew Bradley - St Clair, Duncan New - St Kilda

Wilson Distillers Trophy (Top Competition Club Otago Sand Championships)
St Clair - 313 points
2nd Brighton 117 points, 3rd St Kilda 54 points

Lion Trophy (Top Open Men Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 41 points
2nd St Kilda 7 points

Mark Price Trophy (Top Open Women Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 25 points
2nd Brighton 6 points, 3rd St Kilda 3 points

Otago SLAS Trophy (Top U19 Men Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 35 points
2nd Brighton 8 points, 3rd Warrington 5 points

U19 Women's Competition (Top U19 Women Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 22 points
2nd Brighton 12 points, 3rd Oreti 4 points

U16 Men Competition (Top U16 Men Club Otago Championships)
St Kilda - 22 points
2nd St Clair 11 points, 3rd Brighton 8 points

U16 Women Competition (Top U16 Women Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 31 points
2nd Brighton 15 points, 3rd St Kilda 2 points

Dunedin Festival Cup (Open Ironman Otago Championships)
Hamish Taylor - St Clair
2nd Rob Creasy (St Clair), James Coombes (St Clair)

JC Gore Trophy (Open Iron women Otago Championships)
Lucy Matehaere - St Clair

Friendship Cup (U19 Ironman Otago Championships)
Nathan Wolf - St Clair
2nd Lachlan Brandham (St Clair), Hamish Trembath (St Clair)

Festival Trophy (Open Male Taplin Otago Championships)
St Clair - Angus MacKenzie/James Coombes/Ryan Shanks
2nd Joel Davies/Rob Creasy/Hamish Taylor (St Clair)

Arnold Jones Memorial Cup (Open Women Taplin Otago Championships)
- Not Contested

Owen Jones (Junior Male Taplin Otago Championships)
St Clair - Jackson Aluesi/Lachlan Brandham/Liam McKillop
2nd Hamish Trembath/Nathan Martin/Alex Thompson (St Clair)

Douglas Whitson Memorial Cup (Open Tube Rescue Otago Championships)
Angus MacKenzie, Hamish Taylor - St Clair
2nd Anthony Pickles, Nic Brice (St Kilda)

Top U21 IRB Crew Otago Championships
St Clair Black - A. MacKenzie, A. Ibbotson
2nd St Clair White, 3rd St Kilda

Top Senior IRB Crew Otago Championships
St Kilda C - B. Pickles, N. Harwood
2nd St Kilda B, 3rd St Clair Black

Top Women IRB Crew Otago Championships
St Clair White - M. Garforth, H. Thompson
2nd St Clair Black, 3rd Warrington

Top Premier IRB Crew Otago Championships
- Not Contested

Formica Trophy (Top Club Otago IRB Championships)
St Clair
2nd St Kilda, 3rd Warrington

Vorrath Reid Trophy (Open Men Canoe Race Otago Championships)
St Clair
J. Coombes, R. Shanks, A. MacKenzie, H. Taylor

Esplanade Restaurant Trophy Open Men Top Competitor at Otago Championships
Hamish Taylor - St Clair
2nd James Coombes (St Clair), 3rd Rob Creasy (St Clair)

Esplanade Restaurant Trophy Open Women Top Competitor at Otago Championships
Heather Thompson - St Clair
2nd Carla Laughton (St Clair), Alicia Porteous (Brighton)

Esplanade Restaurant Trophy U19 Men Top Competitor at Otago Championships
Lachlan Brandham/Bailey Brandham - St Clair
3rd Blake Porteous (Brighton)

Esplanade Restaurant Trophy U19 Women Top Competitor at Otago Championships
Olivia Gold - St Clair
2nd Natasha Whyte (Brighton), 3rd = Mikayla Garforth (St Clair)/Hannah McKay (Oreti)/Jody Mowat (St Clair)

Esplanade Restaurant Trophy U16 Men Top Competitor at Otago Championships
Nathan Martin - St Clair
2nd Jack McDowell (St Kilda), 3rd = Duncan New (St Kilda)/Kobi Pohe (Brighton)

Esplanade Restaurant Trophy U16 Women Top Competitor at Otago Championships
Lucy Matehaere - St Clair
2nd Phoebe Aburn (Brighton), 3rd Devon Familton (St Clair)

Under 14 Interclub Trophy
St Clair
2nd = St Kilda/Brighton

Otago Youth Surf Life Saving
(Top Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 293 points
2nd Warrington 44 points, 3rd Brighton 34 points

Regional Lifeguard of the Year
Blake Porteous

South Island IRB Champs
St Clair - 60 points
2nd St Kilda 26 points, 3rd Brighton 3 points

Rescue of the Year
St Clair - February 2016
Nominations:
March 2016 - St Clair
February 2016 - St Clair
February 2016 - St Kilda

Junior Participation Trophy
Warrington
Nominations: St Kilda, Warrington, Brighton

Under 8 Girls: Francesca Maready (St Clair) 56 points Boys: Alexis Owen (Warrington) 54 points
Under 10 Girls: Rosie Falcous (St Clair) 44 points Boys: Lucan McLeod (St Clair) 58 points
Under 12 Girls: Erika Fairweather (St Clair) 53 points Boys: Piere Tapsell (St Clair) 20 points
Under 14 Girls: Hannah Matehaere (St Clair) 47 points Boys: Struan Campbell (St Clair) 43 points

Richard Murray Awards Girls: Rosie Falcous/Francesca Macready (St Clair) Boys: Lucan McLeod (St Clair)

Most Promising Junior Life Guard Awards Girls: Erika Fairweather (St Clair) 15 points Otago Champs Boys: Struan Campbell (St Clair) 11 points Otago Champs
Surf Lifeguard of the Year
Nic Brice - St Kilda
Nominations: Liam Trotter - Brighton, Olivia Richardson - Kaka Point, Samantha Nielsen - Oreti, Cam Burrow - St Clair, Nic Brice - St Kilda, Pru Casey - Warrington

Club of the Year
Oreti