SWIMMING - She's hardly taken a breath in the last 55 years

Tireless administrator marched in on scene at age 13 and hasn't looked back
It was appropriate that, just hours after winning the Brian Maunsell Memorial Award for service to sport, Gwen Lawson was back in the business of looking after another sports team.
Organising sport is something she has done for 55 years on the trot now, so it was hardly surprising that winning some silverware at the Northland Sports Awards on Friday night was nice - thank you very much - but not as important as her duties as manager of two Northland bowls teams in Auckland the next day.
But just reading the list of Gwen Lawson's input to a variety of sports in Northland is enough to make the rest of us sit down for a breather - something Lawson obviously hasn't done too often since she started as a sports administrator aged 13.
So yesterday was no different, it just so happens that a few more people had found out just how much she has dedicated her life to doing the hard yards in sport.
"When you sit back and think about it, you do wonder how it all got fitted in, especially when I was working fulltime as well," Lawson said. "But I just followed my father really. He was secretary of Whangarei Bowls for 21 years and secretary of Northland indoor bowls for 15 years as well.
"Some people would say I like to be the boss ... maybe. I don't quite know how it all happened really, but I have loved every minute of it, I wouldn't change a thing."
Lawson started her sports career as a marcher for the Whangarei Rangers, but stepped onto the "organisation" side of sport when she attended an executive meeting for marching aged just 13.
Even at that stage she had three years of experience as a marching instructor. You read that right, Gwen Lawson was the instructor for the Whangarei Rangers midgets team when she was 10.
For the next 25 years, Lawson competed, instructed, administered marching and, when she finally retired from marching, was made a life member of the Northland association.
In the meantime, Lawson had ploughed into netball and quickly climbed the ranks as a coach to be appointed Northland selector-coach for three years, a term that ushered in a young netballer called Lyn Gunson.
"I was coach when Lyn Gunson became the first Northlander to get picked for a New Zealand trial," Lawson said.
By the time Lawson decided she had done her bit for netball in Northland, she had been club player, club coach, provincial coach, draw steward, nationally qualified umpire, executive committee member and association president.
At that stage Lawson had discovered bowls, a sport where she is now regarded with some awe for her willingness to serve in any number of positions, from club delegate to treasurer to match convener to umpire and club president.
All this begs the question: Just when is Gwen Lawson going to stop?
"Probably when I die," she said. "I mean, you have to keep going otherwise what is the point."