Sam Gaze was named Sportsman of the Year.
Cambridge cyclist Sam Gaze was named as the Waipa’s 2017 Sportsman of the Year at the annual District Sports Awards held this week at the Te Awamutu Event Centre.
The 21-year-old was recognized for his raft of successes this year, namely his impressive first place finish in the Under 23 UCI World Mountain Biking Championships, as well as two first-place finishes at the Prescott Arizona Criterium, and first in Stage 1 & 2 of the Wines 2 Whales Mountain Bike Stage Race.
“These are outstanding world stage achievements to date and whenever he is in New Zealand he is a regular competitor at club road and track events,” said Sport Waikato Waipa District Coordinator Rebecca Foy.
“We have had an amazing spread of talent across all categories this year,” said Foy.
Several Cambridge locals took out titles at the Waipa Sports Awards on Monday night. The Cambridge Football Club’s Senior Men’s 1st team won Team of the Year after winning this year’s WaiBOP Premiership league for the second time in three seasons.
The Cambridge Football Club’s Senior Men’s 1st team took out Team of the Year
Junior Sportswoman of the Year went to St Peter’s school student Ellesse Andrews, who won gold and broke the record in the individual pursuit at the 2017 Junior World Champs in Italy.
Cambridge High School graduate Luke Jacobson took out Junior Sportsman of the Year having led the NZ team as captain at the U20 World Championships to a win in the final against England. He was also a member of the winning Chiefs side at the 2017 Brisbane Global Rugby Tens and has more recently signed a two year contract with Chiefs Rugby Club.
Te Kauwhata’s Brooke Donoghue took out Sportswoman of the Year. Cambridge Primary School’s Marie Dale was awarded Service to Sport, and Administrator of the Year went to Cath Cheatley.
Four more Cambridge locals, Richard Glover, Phil Herewini, Marie Dale and Pearl Martin, were also recognized for their outstanding Service to Sport. Richard Glover has been instrumental in moving sport forward locally and in the Waikato region, setting up the Waikato Intermediate Swimming Champs and women’s football at the local club and Waikato Rep grades, U13 and U16. He retired this year after over 40 years at Cambridge Middle School.
Junior Sportswoman of the Year went to St Peter’s school student Ellesse Andrews.
