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James Preston, Alison Andrews-Paul top winners

Thursday, 19 May 2016, 2:17 pm
Press Release: Athletics Wellington

19 May 2016

James Preston, Alison Andrews-Paul top winners in sports awards

Top middle distance athletes James Preston and Alison Andrews-Paul took out the main awards at the Athletics Wellington annual awards at a full Dockside Bar and Restaurant on May 18.

Both took out the Sportsperson of the Year and the Middle Distance Runners of the Year awards.

Thirty awards – 11 junior, 15 senior and four for non-athletes were presented to recipients throughout the greater Wellington and Wairarapa region. They covered track and field, cross country and relay events for athletes, coaches and volunteers.

Preston qualified for World Juniors in a breakthrough 800m – he is the top ranked Kiwi in the event of all ages - and took out the national junior title in Wellington record time. He is part of Pathway to Podium and took out the Senior Middle Distance athlete award jointly with Hamish Carson.

Last week Carson ran just 0.05s outside the 1500m Olympic A standard for 1500m. To get to Rio, he will need to run faster than 3:36.20 or get invited by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and his nomination confirmed by the NZ Olympic Committee.

Senior middle distance female athlete of the year, Alison Andrews-Paul, is the top-ranked U20 800m and 1500m athlete, and is also off to World Juniors. She was sixth in the open women’s 800m at the Australian champs.

Young middle distance runners were successful too. Max Spencer and Phoebe McKnight took out two awards each, and heptathlete Phoebe Edwards was also a multiple award winners.

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Edwards, who now has seven awards over the past three years, picked up the senior awards for Combined Eventer and Sprinter. Her coach, Mike Ritchie picked up the Senior Coach of the Year for the second successive year and her next-door neighbour, Kelsey Forman, won the award for the senior female athlete in cross country and road events.

Brother and sister Anna and Scott Thomson - both triple jumpers - were Senior Jumpers of the Year, the latter sharing his award with high jumper and national title-holder Sam Pinson. Anna Thomson won all her championship events in the past year, whereas Scott Thomson won all but one, coming runner-up at Nationals, but earlier jumping 15.24m - the top legal jump in New Zealand this season.

McKnight, 14, the youngest winner, has had an outstanding season. Two of her national championship medals – both silver - are at the U18 and U20 level, and she is ranked top 10 of all ages in 3000m. She has won everything in her grade in Wellington she has contested, and was the fastest female of all ages in the Shaw Baton relay.

Spencer,15, has only been a track competitor for a year, but is just 6s off the IAAF World Youth (U18) time for 800m and 11s off the 1500m time, with top three national placings in the U16 category as a 14 year old and top five nationally in cross-country.

A full list of award winners as follows

Male Athlete – James Preston

Female Athlete- Alison Andrews-Paul

Junior Sprinter Girls: Victoria Green and Alyssa Wilson

Junior Sprinter Boys: Gerard Hickey

Junior Middle Distance Girls: Phoebe McKnight

Junior Middle Distance Boys: Max Spencer

Junior Thrower Girls: Amania Mafi

Junior Thrower Boys: Zion Trigger-Faitele

Junior Jumper Girls: Imogen Skelton

Junior Jumper Boys: Gerard Hickey

Junior Para Athlete: Libby Leikis

Junior Cross Country Girls: Phoebe McKnight

Junior Cross Country Boys: Max Spencer

Senior Walker: Jacqueline Wilson

Senior Sprinter Women: Phoebe Edwards

Senior Sprinter Men: Alex Haye

Senior Middle Distance Women: Alison Andrews-Paul

Senior Middle Distance Men: James Preston and Hamish Carson

Senior Distance Women: Katie Kemp

Senior Distance Men: Michael Wray

Senior Combined Events: Phoebe Edwards

Senior Thrower Women: Montaya Wharehinga

Senior Thrower Men: Nathaniel Sulupo

Senior Woman Jumper: Anna Thompson

Senior Men Jumper: Scott Thompson and Sam Pinson

Senior Para Athlete Women: Maria Williams

Senior Para Athlete Men: Keelan Ward

Senior Cross Country and Road Women: Kelsey Forman

Senior Cross Country and Road Men – Marcus Karamanolis

Junior Coach: Amanda Goldsmith

Senior Coach: Mike Ritchie

Official: Jim McIlroy

Junior Volunteer: Juan McDonald

Senior Volunteer: Mark Harris

Life membership – Don Dalgleish and Peter Rendall

ENDS

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