Darts player top in Ruapehu sports

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 612, 14 November 1995, Page 1

Darts player top in Ruapehu sports

Taumarunui darts player Janette Jonathan, who is New Zealand' s top female player and a member of the New Zealand darts team that won this year's test series against Australia and was runner-up in the World Cup pairs in Switzerland, is Ruapehu' s sports person of the year. She was awarded the trophy at the second annual Ruapehu District Sports Awards evening held in Taumarunui on Friday night, where Sir Richard Hadlee was guest speaker. Ohakune skier Todd Haywood was awarded junior sports person for the second time, in recognition of his success in junior and open level skiing and his improvement in his FIS points and world ranking by over 200 places in slalom and 190 places in giant slalom. Taumarunui Golf Club won the sports club award, having produced the Waikato King Country champion of champions teams and individual champion and hosted a number of successful events through substantial voluntary input. The Taumarunui Golf Club Champion of Champions team won the sports team of the year. Sports coach of the year was netball coach Johanne

Erceg and sports administrator was darts team manager Elaine Herbert. Polocrosse umpire John Cooper was awarded top sports referee/umpire. The fair play award went to John Donnelly for his captainship in rugby, cricket and basketball and his play of team spirit in volleyball and hockey. The service to sport award had a large number of nominees, with Neil 'Curly' Neilsen chosen for his 42 years on the King Country rugby union, including service as selector, coach and administrator. Special awards were presented to, Siegfried Bauer for his ultra-distance running and to Max McKenzie for his jet boating. Sponsors of the awards were (in the order they appear above): Ruapehu Construction Limited, Maata Supplies Mitre 10, Ruapehu Buiietin, Ruapehu Press, Manuka Sports Massage, Robert Blackman Holiday Shoppe, Whanganui River Maori Trust Board, Firestone Taumarunui, King Country Energy. Sport Waikato director John Parker was compere for the evening and sports awards chairman Graeme Cosford welcomed the guests and nominees.