An Otago champion was on top of New Zealand sport last night - but not the one you probably expected.
Rowing star Hamish Bond and partner Eric Murray won the supreme Halberg Award at a glittering ceremony in Auckland.
They had earlier been named New Zealand team of the year, after yet another 12-month unbeaten period on the water, a fifth coxless pair world title and a world coxed pair title.
But even rowing fans might have raised their eyebrows at the elevation of Bond and Murray - as good as they are - ahead of Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum, who had to make do with the sportsman of the year award.
The little master joined the ranks of the New Zealand sporting immortals in 2014.
His year started (double century against India) and finished (195 against Sri Lanka) in style, he led a Black Caps team that beat all comers, and he became the first New Zealander to score 1000 test runs in a calendar year.
He also produced arguably the greatest innings in the history of New Zealand cricket - 302 off 559 balls at the Basin Reserve.
That made him, in many eyes, the odds-on favourite for the Halberg Award, but the judging panel again leaned towards rowing.
McCullum, of course, has his eyes on a bigger prize: the Cricket World Cup.
Other winners last night were golf star Lydia Ko (sportswoman) and swimmer Mary Fisher (disabled sportsperson), while league great Stacey Jones and multiple Olympic medal-winning board sailor Barbara Kendall were inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.
