Strong showing from winter sports expected at awards

Adam Hall
Adam Hall
Paralympic gold medallist Adam Hall is well placed to add the Central Otago sportsperson of the year title to his list of sporting awards, when the region's top athletes gather in Wanaka tomorrow night.

Hall, who won gold in the adaptive ski slalom race at the Vancouver Paralympics, is also the reigning Otago sportsperson of the year.

He will be joined by nine other snowsports athletes at an awards ceremony which is dominated by winter sports finalists across the six categories.

Hall's gold medal performance, when he crashed off course during the second run of the slalom before hauling himself back on his skis and rounding a missed flag to complete the race and still claim the fastest combined time, was a dramatic example of grit and determination at a top sporting event.

His Winter Paralympic performance should be enough to trump the other athletes vying for the senior sportsman category, although fellow snowsport athlete Jossi Wells' world freeski title has to be consider.

The pair were named joint winners at the New Zealand snowsports awards last year when judges decided they could not pick between the pair's sporting performances.

While Hall and Wells are standout finalists in their category, Cromwell bowler Shaun Scott is a potential dark horse.

However, the judges will be unable to take into account his New Zealand singles title and a silver in the fours at the national championships in February because the achievements fell outside the 2010 calender year.

In what may be a portent for future Central Otago Sports Awards ceremonies, Wells is joined by his three younger brothers, Byron, Jackson, and Beau James, who are all finalists in the junior sportsman category, while the freeski siblings' father Bruce Wells is up for coach of the year.

Wanaka multisport competitors Nicky Samuels and Joanna Williams are in a duel for the top female athlete award, with triathlete Samuels poised to claim a hat trick of Central Otago sportswoman titles alongside her supreme sportsperson award in 2008.

The Otago Country cricket team is a finalist in the team of the year category, although judges will be unable to consider its Hawke Cup-winning effort in January.

The performance of world mixed doubles silver medal-winning curlers Shaun and Bridget Becker looks likely to land them the team title.

Central Otago sports co-ordinator Bill Godsall said the high-quality of finalists showed how Central Otago athletes "punched way above [their] weight year after year".

The awards take place at a dinner and ceremony at Oakridge Resort, Wanaka, from 8pm.

 

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