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<\/p>\n
“The ability to showcase sport across all levels and see community participants share the stage with home-grown sporting heroes always makes for a very special occasion.<\/p>\n
“Congratulations to all finalists and winners, notably para-cyclist Alana Forster, who was awarded the 2025 Sportsperson of the Year for her outstanding achievements on the world stage.”<\/p>\n
Each year the Ballarat Sportsmen’s Club receives nominations from local sporting associations and the broader community, as a means to acknowledge and reward outstanding sporting performances and contributions to sport in the previous 12 months.<\/p>\n
The quality and breadth of the nominations received made selecting the finalists and category winners a difficult endeavour, hence why the club organises a panel of judges charged with assessing nominations in all categories.<\/p>\n
The awards dinner was attended by 350 members and their guests, award finalists, coaches, and sporting clubs to celebrate the successes of elite and community sportspeople in Ballarat.<\/p>\n
Former Geelong football star and dual Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett Jnr was the club’s guest of honour.<\/p>\n
The awards night also included a moment of silence to honour the memory of life member Neil Thompson and member Greg McIntosh, who died recently.<\/p>\n
In other awards, the junior sportsperson of the year \u2013 the Wunhym Award \u2013 was won by basketballer Lucas Byrne.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A big year for Byrne included a silver medal with Country Victoria at the Under-18 Australian Junior Country Championships in Albury, where he topped the scoring with 20.2 ppg as a bottom-aged player; averaged 21.35 ppg over 20 games with the Ballarat Miners gold medal-winning under-18 men’s team in the Victoria Junior Basketball competition; was named the Miners 2024 Karen Ashby Male Athlete of the Year; captained Ballarat Redan to the Ballarat Cricket Association Under-15 1st XI Premiership (157 runs at 39.25 avg, 5 wickets); and toured China with the national under-16 team (averaged 11.5 ppg and seven rebounds over eight games).<\/p>\n The Hollioake Trophy, awarded to an individual athlete competing in a team event of discipline, was shared by World Eight-Ball Championship team shootout champion Kolbe Poole and national 400m champion Cooper Sherman. Poole, an Australian women’s singles and doubles champion, is ranked No. 1 in the nation.<\/p>\n Among Sherman’s biggest accomplishments for the year were a silver medal as part of the mixed 4x400m relay team at the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, setting a new Oceania record, and his 400m triumph at the Australian Athletics Championships in Perth.<\/p>\n The Ballarat Football Umpires Association’s Deb Sleep claimed the MacKenzie\/Valpied Award, while tennis coach and mentor Rob Benoit won the Widmer Award.<\/p>\n Benoit has made an enduring impact on the sport as a player, coach, manager, mentor and volunteer, having served as a full-time tennis centre coach and manager for 45 years.<\/p>\n His record of service includes 25 years at Ballarat Indoor Tennis (1981-2005) and a further 20 years at Ballarat Regional Tennis (2005-2025).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n His expertise and leadership were also recognised at state level through his role as a former Tennis Victoria state country squad coach.<\/p>\n For more than two decades, he represented the Central Highlands region as a player, junior coordinator and coach, achieving seven Victorian Country open doubles titles and a runner-up in singles, while guiding countless juniors who went on to win junior and senior championships.<\/p>\n The Neil Thompson Scholarship award was presented to the Ballarat Sports Foundation in support of the ongoing development of young, local and aspiring athletes in achieving national and international representation.<\/p>\n Sportsperson of the Year Alana Forster 2025 achievements<\/p>\n \u2022 Double world champion at the 2025 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in Ronse.<\/p>\n \u2022 C5 national champion in the individual time trial at the 2025 Australian Road National Championships.<\/p>\n \u2022 Winner of the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) Para Athlete Award and finalist for the VIS Award of Excellence.<\/p>\n \u2022 Extended her podium streak at the 2025 UCI Para-cycling Road World Cups, securing gold and silver medals in various events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DOUBLE world champion para-cyclist Alana Forster has been crowned the Ballarat Sportsmen’s Club Sportsperson of the Year award for 2025. Forster, who dominated the 2025 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in Ronse, Belgium, with gold medals in the women’s C5 time trial and road race, snared the prestigious honour ahead of a crack field of […]<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/02\/GaryAblettJr-RobertB_33955.jpg\")
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