Some made speeches short and the others memorable as it was more than the rowers who experienced success at the 2014 Ray White Wanganui Sports Awards on Friday.
Interviewing the guest speakers on the stage couch, MC Ben Hurley had managed to keep cycling royalty Dayle and Cath Cheatley in good humour despite his lack of two-wheeled knowledge when asking questions, while a straight-faced inquiry to Silver Ferns Jodi Brown and Joline Henry over why they couldn't beat Australia nearly earned him a microphone to the noggin.
Hurley couldn't keep out of the action as kayaking coach Brian Scott came up to accept his award for Coach of the Year.
"I've always thought Ben was much shorter than he was - he's doing very well," Scott appraised.
Having seen several of his top students go on to represent New Zealand overseas, while enthusiastically already working on the next bunch of young teenagers to follow them, Scott thanked his wife and the members of their club.
"The reflection of a good coach is having great athletes ready to put time and effort into sport."
Having travelled the furthest of the locally based nominees, Taihape's Jackie Tapp was so caught up with her National Senior Sportsperson win that she just had to ask Hurley for a "selfie" on her phone while they were together on stage.
"I did not see that coming at all," she said.
"I've heard tonight the first person you thank is your coach, but for me the first people to thank, coming from nowhere, is my parents.
"For the petrol."
Her family getting her to Palmerston North for training and competition had allowed her to be a key member of the Central representative team which won the national provincial title for the first time in 42 years.
Hurley had already compared the Pinkers - Warrick and Cary - to London gangsters when they accepted the Senior Team of the Year trophy for their national club bowls title win, proving to the comedian that bowls can be a game for tough-looking blokes.
The brothers thanked Keith Slight for the nomination and the late Billy Green for all his help in developing their game.
Other winners like National Junior Sportsperson winner Shannon Schimanski and Masters winner Krystine Davies were happy to be brief about their respective swimming and inline speed skating success - quietly thank the sponsors, coaches and supporters.
Some of the best stories came for the latest inductee to the Wanganui Sports Hall of Fame - national running champion Bev Shingles.
"I feel like a dinosaur, leaving my cave and entering a den full of lions," the 74-year-old observed after Hall of Fame committee member John (JB) Phillips had read out a glowing and thoroughly-researched citation.
Shingles said she was proud to join elite company like Dick Tonks and Philippa Baker-Hogan in the Hall, and talked about how her success was truly grounded in Wanganui by training at Cooks Gardens and Virginia Lake, while being asked if she paid green fees as she jogged around the Belmont Links and Tawhero golf courses.
She credited her husband Mike, whom she had met while in England, for all the help with the preparations which made her the first woman to national titles in three different running distances.
There were disappointments - she had dreamed of qualifying for the Munich Olympic Games and despite winning the national trial, was told by selectors she was two seconds slower than they wanted.
After giving birth to a daughter, she got back into running and despite once cramping so badly she got trapped in a bath in Atlanta, Shingles went on to international marathons.
Broadcaster Grant McKinnon was caught on the hop when recognised for his 40 years in the commentary chair in Wanganui.
After being acknowledged in the Roll of Honour, McKinnon stayed on stage for another presentation of a mounted microphone from the NZME. Media organisation.
"That was totally unexpected," he said.
"I look around the room and I think of all the magnificent occasions [I've had] covering sport.
"I'm just another person but I'm proud of Wanganui and I'm proud to make a contribution to sport in the city."