Sunday, June 10, 2012

DAT Awards Night 2012: The Main Event

I feel ample time has passed since I posted DAT Awards Night 2012: The Prequel that it is now time to move on to the main event.  But for anyone out there unaware of the enormity of this event check out what went down at the 2011 DAT Awards Night and try to get your heads around the fact that this years edition was hyped up so much that we had club members flying home from holidays just so they could make the event and even athletes from other clubs putting themselves through the torture of a weeks training with us just to attend this event!


But before I go into too much detail I must that the brains trust behind the event.  Craig Buerckner, Nathan Hilderbrandt and Dan Atkins spent countless hours not only organising the event itself but were also left with the arduous task of selecting the nominees and winners of the prestigous awards.  And having been privileged enough to be invited to one of their meetings I can vouch for how tough some of the decisions were, even if the meeting was held at the local Stafford Tavern!  But needless to say that without the work these three men put into this event it wouldn't have been what it was so thanks again guys!

With winter well and truly amoung us and the venue moving from The Grange Bowls Club to the chilly waters of the Brisbane River aboard one of the function boats available the majority of the guys were very proud of their decision to don the suit and jacket option!  And with the threat of the boat departing on time with or without it's guests it was for once unusual to see everyone onboard well in advance. 

The first portion of the cruise provided us with time to wet the whistle and mingle and it was during these early moments that those of us with somewhat of a height advantage were actually at a disadvantage on the lower level of this boat and were forced to either duck or spend our time on the distinctly colder upper level of the boat with poor Jenna Fulton hitting her head no less than six times!

But we will bypass all chit-chat and move straight to the exciting part of the evening involving the recipients of the awards and the following speeches and in no particular order here they are:

The first award of the evening was a new addition for the 2012 edition and what better recipient than a new member for the 2011/2012 season!  Having won the 2011 ITU Age Group World Championship in impressive fashion and further going on to have a stellar season racing in the ITU National Junior Elite Series it was none other than Luke Farrell who had the honour of recieving the Appreciation Award.


With Angus and my well prepared speech being given the flick without our knowledge we were both forced to think on our feet to come up with completely unrelated speeches and while I may be rather impressed with my efforts that's not what I'm here to write about so I'll move on to the Age-Group Athlete of the Year and the Most Improved Athlete of the Year.  Both of these awards could not have gone to a more deserving athlete not only after the season she has had but the improvements everyone has been witness to since the beginning of the season.  It was none other than Courtney Dutton who had the honour of getting up on stage twive to recieve two seperate awards and on that note, having looked back over the DAT Honour Board, she is the only athlete to ever claim two awards in the one season and after some of the results within this club this season that is quite the effort!



In fact, the Dutton family stole the limelight on the evening with Britt being awarded the Junior Athlete of the Year after winning non only the School State Championship but also the School National Championship in convincing fashion and when she has one of her training partners in Sophie Maloewecki chasing her ever step of the way there is no telling what these two superstars can do in the future.


Moving on to the Dominator of the Year Award and although I wasn't up for nomination for this award it was one that I was most nervous about for reasons I will go into soon.  I couldn't be happier with the recipient of this award and also the performance it was picked on as I not only believe it is an outstanding performance in the context of this club but also within triathlon in Australia.  Ryan Fisher claimed 3rd in the 2011 Auckland World Cup event which was not only his first World Cup podium but also only the second Australian athlete to step onto the podium apart from Brad Kahlefeldt for the 2011 season.  But with Ryan unable to attend the event it was left up to me to read the speech he had prepared which I was priveledged to do after spending the entire time both of us have been in the sport training together.


With two of the three the remaining awards being the Athlete of the Year and the Atkins Family Award, both of which have previously been won by myself and Ryan, the winners are to be in a select group!  In fact for the past three seasons the winners of the Athlete of the Year have been myself, Ryan and Brayden and the winners of the Atkins Family Award have been Ryan, Brayden and myself. 
It's hard to question the recipients of either of these awards this season.  One of the moments that stole it for me was the National Series race down in Sydney where Geoff produced a great race to finish 4th place that cemented his spot in the Australian team for Worlds later in the year.  But the even better moment was to see how much this race not only meant to him but also to Dan with the two shedding a few tears of joy together immediately after the race and it seems fitting that the winner of the Atkins Family award was presented to Geoff who again shed a tear or two when giving his speech!


Similarly the athlete of the year was sealed with a moment of brilliance, this time at the Mooloolaba Triathlon.  Lining up in only her second elite race and after having been unable to finish down in Devonport no one had more reason to be nervous than Sarah on that startline.  But she put all of that aside and produced one of the performances of the season to run away and produce a marvelous performance to claim the victory.  And just incase anyone thought this would be a one off performance, Sarah has since gone on to win her following race over in Japan winning back to back ITU Continental Cups! 
And I think I speak for Ryan, Brayden and myself in saying that both Geoff and Sarah are worthy winners of these awards and their names will fit in nicely beside ours on that honour board. :)

And on to the final awards for the evening which for me is one of the most special awards and just shows that this club is really something special to have an athlete spend close to six months preparing the award.  Every year Geoff spends countless hours painting what can only be described as a masterpiece to be awarded to an athlete of his choice and is fairly named the Geoffery Lemmon award and unfortunately this year the winner wasn't present but nonetheless her efforts within the club are never overlooked.  Lindy-Jo never fails to step up to fill the void of Dan on pool deck whenever it is required and while her efforts are much appreciated by everyone, she now has the Geoffery Lemmon Award for the 2011/2012 season as another token of this appreciation.


So that wraps up the formal portion of the 2012 DAT Awards night but that isn't to say that the evening ended there with plenty choosing to continue onwards once the boat returned to shore and spend the evening celebrating how great this club really is!

And already there are a few athletes out there getting a solid headstart and throwing their name in the ring to be award recipients for the 2012/2013 season with both Ryan and Sarah winning ITU Continental Cups in China and Japan.  And I dare say the performances won't stop there so for anyone who thought the awards were hotly contested this time around better get themselves out on the training paddock and aim for those prestigious awards for the 2013 DAT Awards Night!


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