A STELLAR group of young sportspeople will come together tonight for the Norske Skog Young Achiever of the Year awards.
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The 11 nominees will be joined by Brad Jones, owner of his Albury V8 Supercars team and ex-racing driver, as guest speakers at the Commercial Club dinner celebrating their achievements.
Awards committee member Rob McDonald said the nominees represented a broad cross-section of sports in the Border region.
“We have an extremely competitive field of nominees this year,” McDonald said.
“In reality, any one of them could win the award.
“We are absolutely rapt with the quality of sportsmen and women we have in this year’s group.
“There is great diversity in the sports each of them represent, which goes a long way to revealing the true extent of sporting riches we have in Albury-Wodonga and the wider Border region.”
McDonald said the event was not only an opportunity to celebrate some significant achievements from local athletes, but also to acknowledge the effort their parents and friends put in to support them.
“There would have been a lot of kilometres racked up for these guys,” he said.
“Our athletes have a tremendous amount of support behind them, and those who do throw their support behind up-and-coming young athletes are often putting themselves out there, which can be very difficult.”
The 11 nominees are representing 10 different sports, with lesser-known disciplines such as dragonboating gaining recognition, as well as clay target shooting and waterpolo.
Hockey goalkeepers Jocelyn Bartram and Ben Hooppell are the only two nominees who play the same sport, while Bridget Johnstone and Matthew Ward are the only aquatic nominees.
The Norske Skog Young Achiever of the Year awards night starts at 7pm.