Otago Sports Awards - a Boys' High benefit

26/5/2008

Old Boys and current pupils were to the fore at last Friday night’s ASB Otago Sports Person of the Year awards dinner, which opened with a performance by the highly-acclaimed Otago Boys’ High School choir.

Otago Sports Person of the Year - 2003 head boy Hamish Bond with Mike Hesson's Otago cricketers, the Otago Team of the Year

World rowing champion Hamish Bond (1999-2003) received the ultimate award, having been named the Speights Otago Sportsman of the Year earlier in the evening. He wasn’t able to be at the sell-out black tie dinner in the Dunedin Town Hall with the New Zealand crews leaving the next day for their European buildup to the Beijing Olympics where he will again stroke the four.

Hamish was the stroke of the men’s coxless four which took the world title in Munich last year, that selection having already been acknowledged as the New Zealand Team of the Year at this year’s Halberg Awards. He also won three national titles during the qualifying period of 1 April 2007 to 31 Match 2008 - in the coxless pair, coxless four and quadruple sculls at the New Zealand championships at Lake Karapiro.

Sport Otago chief executive John Brimble said ‘‘Hamish had an outstanding year and realised the promise he showed as a junior rower . . . he has displayed outstanding leadership qualities and a fierce determination to achieve’’.

Also in the line for the Otago Sportsman of the Year title and overall champion was world-class cyclist Greg Henderson (1990-94), who is a five-times winner of the Otago Sports Person of the Year Award.

Mike Hesson and the State Shield cricket champions - Otago

While Otago cricket coach Mike Hesson (1988-92) missed out on the Air New Zealand Otago Coach of the Year award, he had the satisfaction of seeing his Otago Volts’ side named as the Aotea Electric Otago Team of the Year.

The Otago cricketers took this summer’s State Shield one-day title after qualifying in third spot. Otago beat Canterbury in the semi-final and then trounced Auckland in the final to take a national championship for the first time in 20 seasons. As well as guiding Otago to its long-overdue success, Mike was involved in coaching at New Zealand A level this past year.

And this year’s Sparc Services to Sport Award went to veteran Otago Daily Times sports report, Alistair McMurran (1951-55).

Alistair McMurran addressing the crowd at last Friday's Otago Sports Person of the Year dinner, after receiving his Serices to Sport award and a standing ovation

Since joining the Otago Daily Times’ sporting staff in 1975, Alistair has covered all manner of codes with club rugby, track and field, bowls, rowing and swimming being special interests – and the Otago Daily Times is a better newspaper for his tireless work with many so-called ‘minor’ sports benefiting enormously due to the profile he has generated for them.

Alistair is a former winner of the New Zealand sports journalist of the year award and is the only multiple (2004 and 2007) winner of the national bowls writer’s award.

He is also a middle distance running coach of significant note. His greatest success story was Dick Tayler, whom he guided to Commonwealth Games gold in 1974. He also coached Olympians Euan Robertson and John Campbell, Commonwealth athletes Stuart Melville and the late Chip Dunckley, and was the middle-distance coach of the New Zealand team at the Pan Pacific Games in Australia in 1977. More recently, he coached New Zealand junior 10,000 metre record-holder Blair Martin and national 1,500 metre champion Richard Olsen.

As a promising runner himself, he once defeated future Olympic Games medallist John Davies to become the Otago Boys’ cross-country champion. Later, he won the Ness Cup mile race at the Caledonian Ground. He could also wield a cricket bat, as an opener at both 1st XI and senior club level.

The Otago Boys' High choir, performing Tshotshozolosah

As noted above, the evening opened with a stirring performance by the Otago Boys' High School choir with its rendition of Tshotshozolosha, a South African folk song accompanied by traditional African dancing.

The choir has a number of performances booked in the next few months as it builds a reputation as one of the best school choirs in the country.