Councillors hit out at deferred Tararua sports awards

Some of the 500 competitors who took part in last year's Meridian Te Apiti Challenge. Photo / Supplied

Someone has fallen down on the job, with no Tararua sports awards this year, Tararua District councillor Peter Johns says.

The last awards were held in 2015 with boxer Joseph Parker as guest speaker, but a decision was made to run the awards only every two years to allow for another key event in the alternate year.

But with no Tararua sports awards scheduled for this year and the awards originally scheduled for June next year, district councillors were unimpressed.

"How disappointing to realise it was too late for the awards for this year," councillor Alison Franklin said. "I feel for the athletes who have moved on and missed out."

District councillors asked for the sports awards to be brought into the 2017 calendar year, rather than in 2018. But discussions with staff from Sport Manawatu, who deliver one key event for Tararua per financial year, identified this would require the council to be the major sponsor and provide extra resources if the awards were held this year.

Previously, Sport Manawatu agreed to resource a major new event to replace what used to be the Akitio Challenge and last year they ran the very successful Meridian Te Apiti Whanau Challenge which attracted more than 500 participants.

"The rationale of our decision was how much do you want to put into the events?" Sport Manawatu's Brad Cassidy asked.

With a push-back from councillors, the Tararua District Council and Sport Manawatu have agreed to bring the sports awards forward to April next year.