Sports award for Carterton helper

Nobody was more surprised than Sue Lyttle when she was named BikeNZ's Volunteer of the Year Newcomer award winner at a function held by the national body in Auckland last Saturday.
Lyttle, from Carterton, heard of her success when texted by a friend who was in attendance and she admits to being taken aback by the news.
"I didn't know anything about it, I had no idea whatsoever I was even in the running," Lyttle said yesterday. "Obviously I was rapt, you don't go out there expecting these sort of things but it's always nice when they come."
As it happened, Lyttle was one of seven nominees for the newcomer award, beating off the challenges of Shannon Rafferty (Mid South Canterbury), Ben Christian and Sarah Christian (Wellington), Chris Henderson (Otago), Matthijs van Wagtendonk (Manawatu) and Waine Harding (Southland).
Bike New Zealand said Lyttle had won her award for her "increased involvement as a commissaire over the last two years", noting she had competently taken on many leadership roles in that area and was an asset to the BikeNZ road and track technical team
It was a desire to put something back into a sport in which she had competed for some 30 years which saw Lyttle become a commissaire.
"I didn't want to be one of those people who take but don't give and it was a way of staying involved in a sport I've always really enjoyed," she said.
The attraction of being a commissaire was that it provided the opportunity to do a wide variety of jobs.
In road cycling, for instance, it can mean judging, timekeeping, results collation or being part in the convoy of cars following the action to ensure nothing untoward occurs between riders and their support crews. On the track, it can mean being a corner judge or secretarial work.
Lyttle has officiated at a number of national senior and secondary school tours and she is a regular as chief judge at the popular Trust House Classic and New Zealand women's tours, which include Wairarapa.
Appointments for most of the major road and track events to be held in this country over the next 12 months are yet to be announced but Lyttle has already been asked to be a commissaire at the International Police Games to be held in Lower Hutt next March.
She has also added another string to her bow too, having just gained the ticket which will see her officiating at premier mountain biking meets in the downhill and cross-country disciplines.
Lyttle's hefty involvement in cycling administration was earlier recognised when she was named the Wairarapa Whistler's Official of the Year for 2010.