Swimming: Ideal end to lengthy career for HB coach

Noel Hardgrave-Booth will retire from coaching after more than 45 years, 26 of those at the Greendale club. Photo / Warren Buckland

It was the perfect consolation for Hawke's Bay swimming coach Noel Hardgrave-Booth missing out on a trip to the Rio Olympics.

"Yes the ideal consolation and the ideal way to finish ... at the top of my game," Greendale's Hardgrave-Booth said after he received Swimming New Zealand's Coach of the Year award at SNZ's annual awards function in Auckland on Saturday night. The award recognised his work with 16-year-old New Zealand Open and age-group champion Bobbi Gichard during the past 12 months. Gichard was a junior world champs bronze medallist last year as well as a multiple gold medallist at the Youth Commonwealth Games.

Noel Hardgrave-Booth with Bobbi Gichard. Photo / Duncan Brown

For the past five years Hardgrave-Booth, 73, had set travelling to Rio with Gichard as his main goal. However those plans changed earlier this year when Gichard transferred to the Howick Pakuranga club, so she could be closer to Swimming New Zealand's High Performance Training programmes and older and more committed swimmers.

She now has a new coach in Jana Korbasova. Gichard missed out on qualifying for Rio in both her 100 and 200m backstroke events at the New Zealand Open Championships in Auckland last week.

Hardgrave-Booth watched both swims and said Friday night's 200m was a lot better than the previous night's 100m. Gichard missed the qualifying time by a little over a second.

On April 22 Hardgrave-Booth will retire from coaching after more than 45 years, 26 of those at the Greendale club. He has also coached at the Wairoa, Rangiora and Napier Aquahawks clubs.

While this is the first time Hardgrave-Booth has won this award he is a three-time winner of the Swim Coaches and Teachers of New Zealand Provincial Coach of the Year award. Lauren Boyle won the Swimmer of the Year award. This recognised her two silver medals in the 800 and 1500m freestyle events at the world championships.