Otago Southland Awards of Excellence winners announced

St Clair Surf Life Saving Club dominated the top awards at last night's Otago-Southland Awards of Excellence.

Every year, regional Awards of Excellence ceremonies are held around the country to officially recognise members for their hard work and dedication to Surf Life Saving in New Zealand.

The 2017 Otago-Southland Awards of Excellence were held at the Mornington Tavern in Dunedin and included Warrington, St Kilda, St Clair, Brighton, Kaka Point and Oreti Surf Life Saving Clubs.

The evening began with the presentation of Service Awards and top junior and senior age group awards for Otago Surf Sports competitions held throughout the past season and continued with the presentation of major sporting and lifesaving awards.

One of the night's top awards, Surf Lifeguard of the Year, was awarded to Chris Haig from St Clair. The purpose of this award is to recognise a member who has made an outstanding contribution to the delivery and development of drowning prevention services for Surf Life Saving.

Chris received the highest volunteer patrol hours for St Clair this season with a total of 65 hours, all of which were while being the Patrol Captain on the day.

Additionally, he delivered all of the Surf Lifeguard Award training, helping 22 new members gain their Lifeguard Award, assisted with IRB crew and driver training, supported 17 members through various First Aid qualifications, was a member of the Local Lifeguard Committee and ensured all 96 members were refreshed for the 2016/17 season within the club.

Sam Clutterbuck, Club Support Officer for the Otago-Southland area, says Chris is always professional during patrol and is a leader to the new members coming through.

"He is constantly informing his membership of what courses are available and is always willing to lend a hand," he says.

Volunteer of the Year was awarded to James Coombes, also from St Clair. The purpose of this award is to recognise an outstanding member who has made a significant volunteer contribution to enhancing surf lifesaving within their local area during the patrol season.

Mr Clutterbuck says James epitomises what Surf Life Saving is all about and is a very dedicated member in the Otago-Southland region. He has patrolled over 30 hours this season and has acted as a leader, coach, a local chairman, course facilitator and member of the Search and Rescue team.

"He spends a lot of time voluntarily steering his club through season after season, whether it's filtering through club emails, monitoring social media, creating weekly newsletters, completing funding applications or organising team trips. He is the backbone for his club and has his finger on the pulse in several areas. He continues to put so much in to his club and ensures each area has the right people and training there to ensure it has every chance to succeed," he says.

Chris and James will go on to be finalists in the national Surf Life Saving New Zealand Awards of Excellence, being held in Auckland in September.

St Clair also claimed the prestigious Club of the Year award. The award considers a number of aspects including the number of refreshed lifeguards and Senior Lifeguard Awards gained, membership development, patrol audits, sport and lifesaving results and membership growth.

Other awards handed out last night included Regional Service Awards and a large number of sports awards.

Mr Clutterbuck says the awards are an important way to end a busy season.

"The night was a great opportunity to congratulate and celebrate the time and energy that our members have given to the region over the 2016/17 season," he says.

Awards of Excellence winners:

Les Jordan Memorial Trophy (Volunteer of the Year)
James Coombes - St Clair

Surf Lifeguard of the Year
Chris Haig - St Clair

Regional Lifeguard of the Year
Ryan Thom - St Kilda

Rescue of the Year
Elle Rolfe - St Clair January 2017

Club of the Year
St Clair

Presidents Trophy Peter Gibbons - St Kilda

Duke Gillies Memorials Trophy (Coach of the Year)
Chris Haig- St Clair

Sportsperson of the Year
Erika Fairweather - St Clair

Sport Team of the Year
Briar Taylor, Maysha Ahrens - St Clair Women's IRB Team

Instructor/Examiner of the Year
Peter Gibbons - St Kilda

Surf Official of the Year
Michael Andrew - St Clair

Event Guard of the Year
Duncan New - St Kilda

Wilson Distillers Trophy (Top Competition Club Otago Sand Championships)
St Clair - 321 points
2nd Brighton 112 points, 3rd St Kilda 91 points

Lion Trophy (Top Open Men Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 21 points
2nd Brighton 12 points, 3rd St Kilda 10 points

Mark Price Trophy (Top Open Women Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 19 points
2nd St Kilda 11 points, 3rd Warrington 6 points

Otago SLAS Trophy (Top U19 Men Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 33 points
2nd St Kilda 8 points, 3rd Warrington 2 points

U19 Women's Competition (Top U19 Women Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 29 points
2nd Brighton 9 points, 3rd St Kilda 3 points

U16 Men Competition (Top U16 Men Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 25 points
2nd St Kilda 11 points, 3rd Brighton 2 points

U16 Women Competition (Top U16 Women Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 26 points
2nd Brighton 14 points, 3rd St Kilda 7 points

Dunedin Festival Cup (Open Ironman Otago Championships)
Bailey Brandham - St Clair
2nd Michael Hastie (Warrington), 3rd Anthony Pickles (St Kilda)

JC Gore Trophy (Open Iron women Otago Championships)
Stephanie Laughton - St Clair

Friendship Cup (U19 Ironman Otago Championships)
Nathan Wolf - St Clair

Festival Trophy (Open Male Taplin Otago Championships)
St Kilda A - Anthony Pickles/Nic Brice/Nick Harwood/Ryan Thom/Riley Allibone/Michael Thompson

Owen Jones (Junior Male Taplin Otago Championships)
St Clair

Douglas Whitson Memorial Cup (Open Tube Rescue Otago Championships)
James Coombes, Cam Burrow, Nathan Wolf, Max Wolf - St Clair

Top U21 IRB Crew Otago Championships
St Clair A - Silas Kemp, Nelson Mears
2nd St Kilda A, 3rd Warrington

Top Senior IRB Crew Otago Championships
St Clair A - Arthur Ibbotson, James Walters
2nd St Kilda A, 3rd Kaka Point

Top Women IRB Crew Otago Championships
St Clair A - Briar Taylor, Maysha Ahrens
2nd St Kilda A, 3rd St Clair B + Warrington A

Top Premier IRB Crew Otago Championships
St Kilda A - Ben Pickles, Nick Harwood
2nd St Kilda B

Formica Trophy (Top Club Otago IRB Championships)
St Kilda - 152 points
2nd St Clair 110 points, 3rd Warrington 47 points

Vorrath Reid Trophy (Open Men Canoe Race Otago Championships)
Brighton- B. Porteous, T. Woodford-Webb, J. Lennon, R. Whyte

Esplanade Restaurant Trophy Open Men Top Competitor at Otago Championships
James Coombes - St Clair
2nd = Nathan Wolf (St Clair), Blake Porteous (Brighton), Alex Sutherland (Brighton)

Esplanade Restaurant Trophy Open Women Top Competitor at Otago Championships
Stephanie Laughton - St Clair
2nd = Ashlie Nobilo (St Kilda), Paige Newman (Warrington)

Esplanade Restaurant Trophy U19 Men Top Competitor at Otago Championships
Alex Thomson (St Clair) and Nathan Wolf (St Clair)
3rd Lachlan Brandham

Esplanade Restaurant Trophy U19 Women Top Competitor at Otago Championships
Lucy Matehaere - St Clair
2nd Gabrielle Trotter (Brighton), 3rd Carina Donegan (St Clair)

Esplanade Restaurant Trophy U16 Men Top Competitor at Otago Championships
Max Wolf (St Clair) + Ben Hayward (St Clair)
3rd Danyon Noakes

Esplanade Restaurant Trophy U16 Women Top Competitor at Otago Championships
Hannah Matehaere - St Clair
2nd Phoebe Aburn (Brighton), 3rd Annie Kennedy-Atchison (St Clair)

Under 14 Interclub Trophy
St Clair
2nd Warrington, 3rd Oreti

Otago Youth Surf Life Saving
(Top Club Otago Championships)
St Clair - 247 points
2nd Warrington 52 points, 3rd Brighton 46 points, 4th Kaka Point 9 points, 5th St Kilda 8 points, 6th Oreti 3 points

Formica NZ
South Island Surf Life Saving I.R.B Championships St Kilda - 147 points
2nd St Clair 134 points, 3rd North Beach 73 points

Junior Participation Trophy
Brighton

Under 8 Girls: Ella Colquhoun (St Clair) 45 points Boys: Hamish Eason (Warrington) 43 points
Under 10 Girls: Safia McLeod (St Clair) 46 points Boys: Harrison Stout (St Clair) 30 points
Under 12 Girls: Jade Fairweather (St Clair) 34 points Boys: Sam Stedman (St Clair) 33 points
Under 14 Girls: Charlotte Underwood-Nicol (St Clair) 32 points Boys: Aidan Macrae (St Clair) 30 points

Richard Murray Awards
Girls: Safia McLeod (St Clair)
Boys: Harrison Stout (St Clair)

Most Promising Junior Life Guard Awards
Girls: Jade Fairweather (St Clair)
Boys: Aidan Macrae (St Clair)

Southern Region Swim Champs - Top Club
2016 - St Clair (213 points)
2nd South Brighton (146 points), 3rd Waimairi (116 points)

Arancia South Island Cup- National IRB Competitions- Top S.I Club
St Clair

Plaque: "To recognise the huge efforts put in to planning, mentoring current officials and delivering Sporting events throughout the region this season."
Awarded to: Dennis Trembath

Regional Service Awards:
Cam Burrow - St Clair

Volunteer of the Year James Coombes accepts Club of the Year on behalf of St Clair Surf Life Saving Club.

For more information, please contact:

Lisa Smith, Media & Communications Manager, SLSNZ
Phone 0276 488 823
Email lisa.smith@surflifesaving.org.nz

or

Sam Clutterbuck, Club Support Officer - Otago/Southland
Ph 0274 571 010
Email sam.clutterbuck@surflifesaving.org.nz