Bunce to be guest speaker

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

ALL Black great Frank Bunce will be the guest speaker at this year’s Logans Sporting Excellence Awards, which will also celebrate the past 25 years of local sporting achievement.

The awards night, hosted by former TV3 sports reporter Hamish McKay, will be held on July 6 at the War Memorial Theatre.

The night’s events will pay tribute to the district’s sporting excellence in the period since Sport Gisborne-Tairawhiti was founded in 1991.

The finalists for the 2016 awards will be named on June 15.

Tickets went on sale on Wednesday.

Bunce, a 55-test All Black who formed a legendary midfield partnership with second five-eighth Walter Little, is currently assistant coach of the Thames Valley Heartland side.

The All Black centre was the guest speaker at last week’s Wairoa Star Sportperson of the Year Awards, where ironman Rod Kirwan took out the top award.

Bunce told the Wairoa audience, when not recounting humorous All Black anecdotes, that sport provided lifelong friendships.