Brent Eastwood Sport Thought: Northland sports awards night a great celebration

Northland rugby legend Sid Going, left, shakes hands with guest speaker and latest Northland Legend of Sport inductee at the Northland Sports Awards on Friday. Photo / www.langwoods.co.nz

Last Friday night saw a wonderful celebration of Northland sport when the 2018 Conbrio Northland Sports Awards were held at the ASB Stadium in Whangārei.

More than 450 people saw the best of Northland's sporting talent recognised through the various awards and witnessed another Northlander inducted as a Legend of Northland Sport.

The top award (the Supreme Award) was taken out by Ella Gunson, who also had the honour of being named the Sportswoman of the Year. Ella played outstandingly well all year for the Black Sticks, captaining the team, winning a gold medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and a silver medal in 2017 World Hockey League.

The Sportsman of the Year was won by Jack Goodhue – Jack had another stellar year with the Taniwha, helped the Crusaders win the 2018 Super Rugby title and of course represented the All Blacks, where he cemented a starting spot at centre.

The coveted Garry Frew Memorial under-21 Sportsperson of the Year award was won this year by the hugely-talented Madison Doar, who at the tender age of 18, was also a member of the gold-medal winning Black Sticks team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The Dudley and Dennis Team of the Year award was won by the Northern Swords Premier Rugby League team and the Thermatech Junior Team of the Year award by the Te Tai Tokerau under-21's women's touch team.

Other awards were won by Judith Stewart for athletics (NorthCloud Masters Sportsperson of the Year), Neville Rogers from rugby league (Pak'n Save Coach of the Year), Carlrine Gillespie for swimming (Pacific Motor Group Official of the Year), Mid North United Sports (Sport NZ Community Impact award) and Grant Stone from Northland Badminton (Rowsells Collision Repair Leadership in Sport award). Twenty-seven ASB Code awards were also handed out for the best athletes in each sports code in Northland.

A very special part of the night was the induction of another Northland Legends of Sport inductee. This year Pero Cameron was inducted for his deeds over 17 years at the top level in basketball – more on this in next week's column.

Well-known Sky Sport commentator and former Northlander Scotty Stevenson interviewed Pero and the audience were entertained by his humorous responses.

Ian Babe took out the prestigious Brian Maunsell Memorial Service to Sport award for his services to the sport of athletics.

And this year's Northern Advocate People's Choice award was also revealed – the theme this year was "Good Sorts" and the voters chose Sharon Carroll from swimming as the most popular Good Sort for her work with organisations such as Swimming Northland, Bream Bay Swimming Club, Bream Bay College, Waipū Lions, as well as organising countless fun runs, walks, cycle events and fundraisers to help her local community.

All in all, it was another great celebration of Northland sport – it is certainly in good heart and we look forward to more fantastic performances from our home-grown sportspeople over the next 12 months.