Spotlight on local stars

ATHLETIC greatness was celebrated last Friday night with the fifty-seventh annual Bendigo Sports Star Awards.

This year’s awards celebrated the monthly and scholarship winners of the last two years, as 2021’s gala night was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Annual awards were also handed out, including the Cyril Michelson and Maxine Crouch Trust Funds, the Faith Leech Inspiration, Healthiest School, and the Community Awards.

New this year were the John Forbes Coach/Manager and the Bendigo Health Young Indigenous Awards.

Chair of the Bendigo Sports Star committee Michael McKern said the idea of the night is for people to enjoy themselves, while recognising local, statewide, national and international sporting achievements.

“That’s been the idea for the last 50-odd years, to put heap of sport-minded community people in the room and it was a success,” he said.

“It was a great night with 270 people. 57 years long and we look forward to going again.”

The Bendigo Sports Star Awards are the longest running celebration of sport in regional Australia.

The night gave young scholarship winners a chance to rub shoulders with monthly winners, including Olympic and Paralympic swimmers Jenna Strauch and Col Pearse, proving a pathway from regional towns to the world stage is possible.

Golf star claims Bendigo’s top sports prize

LUCAS Herbert has come a long way since his junior days at Neangar Park Golf Club.

The golf star took home the top gong on Friday night, claiming his first Bendigo Sports Star of the Year award.

While he was busy preparing for the Honda Classic in Florida, Herbert thanked the committee and his supporters in a video message.

“It’s very satisfying to win as I’ve won many monthly awards over the years but never won the actual prize,” he said. “It’s very cool to be able to have said that.

“I always used to love coming to the sport star dinners and awards nights… thank you to everyone on my team who helped me do everything I could to achieve the awards I’ve been presented with.”

Parents Lyndon Herbert and Meredith Fettling accepted the award on their son’s behalf and said they often pinch themselves at his success, which has included winning international tournaments in Dubai and Ireland and winning his first PGA tournament, the Bermuda Championship, in October last year.

Herbert is currently the 50th ranked PGA golfer in the world.

While Bendigo would be unknown to many on the tour, Mr Herbert and Ms Fettling said he regularly talks in interviews and podcasts about wanting to come home, see his friends and play a round on his home course.

Growing up, Herbert idolised Cohuna’s Stuart Appleby, and the pair now play regularly together in Florida.

“Hopefully there are kids coming through in whatever sport in Bendigo that he’ll inspire,” Mr Herbert said.

Diving champion forever remembered

OLYMPIC diver Ron Masters has been immortalised in the newly named Basil Ashman Hall of Fame.

Masters, who grew up in Bendigo, competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games in the three-metre springboard and high diving, and won gold and silver in the 1938 Commonwealth Games in the same events.

Accepting the award for her late granduncle was Sue Masters, who said it was her father’s mission to get the diver in the hall of fame.

“Dad, before he passed away last year, had spoken to Basil about this award but it was postponed,” she said.

“Dad knew it was coming, but he would’ve loved to be here.”

Ms Masters said her granduncle’s medals have been located and talks are underway to have replicas on display at the Faith Leech Aquatic Centre, where a photo of Masters can be seen in the entrance.

Raywood named region’s healthiest school

A PRIMARY school of fourteen students has claimed the title of healthiest school at the Bendigo Sports Star Awards.

Presented by Fosterville Gold Mine, the gong went to Raywood Primary School, located 27 kilometres north of Bendigo.

Grade 3 to 6 teacher Hayden Collins said the school prides itself on instilling a winning attitude in its students.

The school competes in interschool sporting events with other regional schools including Colbinabbin, Elmore, and Goornong Primary Schools.

“We put a big focus into getting to those things and being competitive but more so when we roll into these events with only a small amount of kids, we want to show that despite the fact we have low numbers we can participate and we’ve got champions,” Mr Collins said.

Mr Collins said he hopes the award puts “a bit of wind in the sails” of the students, and he was excited to bring the award back to the school.

Footy club for everyone claims to prize

ONE of the biggest cheers on the evening went to the Bendigo FIDA Suns as they were recognised for their work in the all abilities AFL football space with the with the Bendigo Bank Community Award.

The Suns compete in the northern conference of the Victorian FIDA Football League, for players with an intellectual disability.

Committee member Jedd Manton said it was a great honour to be nominated, let alone with the award.

“Like many other clubs, we haven’t really played a lot of footy in the last few years, but our players are looking forward to getting back out this year and playing the game they love,” he said.

The club welcomes players aged 14 and above, of all genders and abilities, to play Australian Rules football with an emphasis on learning skills and being social.

“Our players are really excited to get back on the field,” Mr Manton said.

“I’ve received a few messages asking when the next come and try day is. It’s great to see they’ve got that hunger to get back out there again.”

Inaugural Indigenous award backs young athletes

INDIGENOUS athletes Lara Priest and Daniel Vallance shared the inaugural Young Indigenous Award, supported by Bendigo Health.

Fourteen-year-old Vallance said the award means he has bragging rights over his brother.

“I get to go back to school and show my teachers the award. It means so much that I’ve got the first Aboriginal one as well,” he said.

Valance recently represented Eaglehawk Secondary School in the interschool swimming tournament.

He said he was inspired by the amount of talent in the room, although wished he could’ve met Australian basketballer Dyson Daniels.

Thirteen-year-old Priest plays in the Victorian futsal team and was selected to represent Australia in New Zealand in December.

“I feel pretty good knowing we’re the first Aboriginal people to get this award,” she said.

Priest also received the Youth Sports Woman at the Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-Operative NAIDOC Awards in July last year.

Coaching the next gen in memory of a legend

NOW named after Bendigo sporting icon John Forbes, the coaches/manager award went to Epsom FC soccer coach Peter Raeburn.

With 32 years of managerial experience, Raeburn has been a Victorian state coach and has held positions at the Victorian Academy of Sport.

He said awards are not something he thinks about in his line of work.

“I think it’s more important to push kids into the direction they want to see,” he said.

“We’re stepping stones… it’s a matter of helping them achieve what they want to achieve and become better people within themselves.”

Always with a mind on the bigger picture, Raeburn said it was great to see the amount of young talent in the room.

“It’s a broad acre of sport, it’s not one of two,” he said. “It just shows you the mentality of what we’ve got here in Bendigo and districts… and behind them hopefully are good coaches pushing them in the right direction.”

Major cycling event inspires many

FIRST held in 1972, the widely popular Bendigo International Madison took out the Faith Leech Inspiration Award at this year’s Sports Star Awards.

Unfortunately cancelled again this year due to COVID-19, the race sees international athletes take to the Tom Flood Sports Centre for a 400-metre footrace and a 200-lap Madison cycling event featuring 17 pairs of riders.

Chairman of the carnival committee Warren Sinnott said the event is the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

“We put on a show as best we can to bring world-class athletes and cyclists to Bendigo and people come and see elite sportspeople compete,” he said.

When it comes to inspiration, Mr Sinnott said there’s nothing more inspiring than the cyclists enduring the pain of the race.

“One of my thrills is going back to the track to clean up and you see children on the track trying to emulate what happened the night before,” he said.

Reid running for the stars

THIS year’s one-thousand-dollar Cyril Michelsen Trust Fund was awarded to athlete Archie Reid.

Reid, a sports star scholarship winner last June, has taken his track running from strength to strength.

He finished fifth in the Launceston Running Festival 10-kilometre race, clocking his personal best time of 29.22 minutes.

Last December, Reid competed in the half marathon at the Melbourne Marathon, finishing eighth with a time of 1.06.38 hours.

Recently, he finished fourth at Bendigo’s 5km Frenzy event with a time of 14.33 minutes.

“I wasn’t expecting this tonight. It means heaps, even just being named to come here was massive for me,” the Echuca native, who runs with the South Bendigo Athletics Club, said.

“I’ve been to the Echuca [awards] a few times, but it’s a lot bigger here and to win something here is huge.”

The athlete also thanked his coach, Bendigo Harriers veteran Brady Threlfall.

Membrey grateful for cash backing

AEROBIC gymnast Lucy Membrey took home the Maxine Crouch Trust Fund.

Membrey recently finished fifth in her first Australian Gymnastic Championships in the senior international individual final, and third in the trio.

The humble champ said she was grateful to receive the award.

“I’m so proud and appreciative to be a part of a community like this,” she said. “I never thought little me doing gymnastics would end up somewhere like this.

“Having a little gym sport being amongst all these AFL players and Olympians and Paralympians, it’s amazing.”

The 19-year-old somehow balances studying at university, working part time, and training four times a week in Melbourne, as well at Palmer’s Gym on Mundy Street.

She said she’d spend the $1000 prize on travel.

“Travel is expensive, aerobic gymnastics is all self-funded, we’re expected to pay for our trips, uniforms and accommodation. This is very helpful,” she said.

In awarding the scholarship, Travis Crouch, Maxine’s son, noted many past recipients have gone on to win monthly Sports Star awards.