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The start of something extraordinary

Lauren Boyle, State Insurance Swimmer of the Year

On Saturday night, at the State Insurance 2013 Swimming New Zealand Awards, Lauren Boyle was announced as the swimmer of the year for her performances in 2012. Along the way to receiving the top award, Lauren also won awards for National Swimmer of the Year, International Long Course Swimmer of the Year and the Billie Fitzsimmons Cup.

Other winners on the night were –

New Zealand Swimming Trust - Emerging Swimmer of the Year: Corey Main - Howick Pakuranga;

Performance Swimming Club of the Year: North Shore;

New Zealand Swimming Trust - Community Swimming Club of the Year: Jennian Homes Ashburton Swim Team

National Swimmer of the Year: Lauren Boyle (North Shore);

Bill Matson Technical Official of the Year: Jo Davidson (Auckland);

Volunteer of the Year: Simon Perry (Waikato)

Open Water Swimmer of the Year: Cara Baker (Howick Pakuranga);

State Kiwi Swim Safe School of the Year: Bell Block School (New Plymouth);

Quality Swim School of the Year: AC Baths Swim School (Taupo);

Swimmer of the Year with a Disability: Sophie Pascoe (QE II);

Relay Team of the Year: Men’s 4x100 Medley team – Gareth Kean, Glenn Snyders, Carl O’Donnell, Andrew McMillan;

International Long Course Swimmer of the Year: Lauren Boyle;

Swimming New Zealand Club Coach of the Year: Roly Crichton (QE II);

Swimming New Zealand High Performance Coach of the Year: Mark Regan;

People’s Choice Award: Mary Fisher (Capital);

Billie Fitzsimmons Cup: Lauren Boyle;

NZ Masters Swimming - Swimmer of the Year: Kath Johnstone;

State Insurance - New Zealand Swimmer of the Year: Lauren Boyle.

The surprise of the evening was the performance of two 95 year old ladies. Peg Moorhouse attended to receive the representative certificate for her late husband Len who was a New Zealand Olympian in 1928 at Amsterdam. He was only the seventh swimmer to represent New Zealand at a pinnacle event.

And then the New Zealand Masters Swimmer of the Year was 95 year old Kath Johnstone who won 5 gold medals at the World Masters Swimming Championships in Italy in 2012.

Both ladies delighted the audience with tales of their memories and achievements.

The evening also took the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the 8 paralympic swimmers who did so well in London and recognised the multiple world records set by Sophie Pascoe and Mary Fisher at the State Open Championships last week.

The achievements of a number of 2012 AquaBlacks who have now retired were also remembered. Carl O’Donnell, Amaka Gessler, Natalie Wiegersma, Penny Marshall and Mellissa Ingram were each brought up so that there achievement in swimming could be recognised. For Melissa it the culmination of an 11-year journey of representing New Zealand.

The Awards were held at the Viaduct Events Centre, were hosted by John McBeth and were attended by over 260 people from the swimming community. A great night was had by all – with many continuing to celebrate into the night.

Awards Dinner