Report by Al Byrne
Following an afternoon of bowls, Club President Greg Gourley gathered attendees together in Tuggeranong Vikings Club early in the evening of 11 December 2016 to congratulate all swimmers and coaches on a year of successes – both at individual and club level. At over 100 members, we are one of the largest and most successful Masters Swimming clubs in Australia. Guided by an excellent coaching team, we have a high participation rate not just at training and at Masters Swimming events, but also at other events such as triathlons and open-water swims.
Honouring swimmers who have made consistent achievements and/or improvements throughout the year, and have best represented the aims of Masters Swimming and of our own club, our 2016 club awards were presented as follows:
Gill and David Buckley Encouragement Award
This award is for a Thursday morning swimmer who trains regularly, takes instruction and applies it to the best of their ability, and just plain tries hard but has fun too. Despite a serious accident during the year, the 2016 award winner, Denise Druitt, dedicated herself to quickly getting back to swimming and competing, as well as actively assisting with management of club finances.
Tuggeranong Masters Swimming Encouragement Award
Introduced in 2013, this award is for an evening swimmer who similarly trains regularly, takes instruction and applies it to the best of their ability, trying hard and having fun. The 2016 award winner was Al Byrne.
Tuggeranong AUSSI Masters Most Improved Swimmer
This award is for the swimmer who, no matter where they’ve started the year, has demonstrated the best continuous improvement. While new to Masters swimming, the 2016 award winner, Richard Phillips, has already competed in freestyle, breaststroke and IM events.
Postal Swimmer of the Year
This award is for the swimmer who has made the best effort at Postal Swims throughout the year. With a little more time now available to her during 2016, Donna Campbell has worked hard and put in a great showing via both the Bunbury postal swims and the Tuggeranong Trifecta. As well as enthusiastically completing her own swims, Donna continually helps her fellow Vikings by timekeeping, assisting more members in achieving swims in both programs.
Iron Person of the Year
As if competitively swimming in 1500m butterfly events was not enough, our 2016 Iron Person winner, Ann Reid, well and truly earned the title when she broke her foot during warm ups at the State Short Course competition at Woy Woy. Not only did Ann continue to officiate throughout the rest of the meet, she swam three events! Definitely an Iron Person effort!
Judy Gallagher Memorial Trophy for Swimmer of the Year
Our 2016 Swimmer of the Year is Katrina Burgess. As well as being our Endurance and Postal Swim Coordinator, Katrina competed at numerous meets during 2016 – ranging from BPS competitions through to Nationals. Katrina’s results speak for themselves: more than 120 swims during the year, delivering an outstanding 41 personal bests, including two State butterfly records.
Club Person of the Year (President’s Choice)
The Mortlock award is for the member who has made the most notable overall contribution to the club during the year. After an extended period as President and many years as a committee member and coach, President Gourley was very pleased to present the 2016 award to his immediate predecessor and long-term club stalwart, Leisa Cass. Congratulations Leisa!
