Success on track translates to award

Regan Gough accepts the Hawke's Bay Sportsperson of the Year award on Saturday night. Photo / Warren Buckland

Multiple world champion cyclist Regan Gough was meant to be in Europe training at the weekend, but instead he was present at the Hawke's Bay Sports Awards to be crowned Sportsperson of the Year.

Health issues that prevented him from racing in last month's national club championships in the Bay, and which he politely declined to elaborate on, forced him to postpone the trip until later this month.

Instead, Waipukurau's Gough, 18, got the perfect consolation for the delayed trip when he received the province's top sports award at a function organised by Sport Hawke's Bay and attended by 500 people in Taradale's Pettigrew-Green Arena on Saturday night. The main sponsors of the evening were Hawke's Bay Today and Radio Sport. Black Caps cricketer Kyle Mills, a member of the World Cup squad, was the guest speaker while sports journalist Phil Gifford was the MC.

Earlier in the night Gough collected the Junior Sportsperson of the Year award and along with Central Hawke's Bay Cycling Club clubmate Luke Mudgway, who was already in Europe, captured the junior team award.

Gough, who is based in Cambridge these days, hadn't originally planned on making the trip home for the function.

"It was only when I read Hawke's Bay Today and I realised I might be in with a chance of a couple of the awards that I realised I should come," the humble Gough said at the post-awards media conference.

The most successful junior track cyclist in the history of New Zealand cycling was always going to be hard to beat in the battle for the supreme award. While still a junior, Gough, was a member of the Kiwis' gold medal-winning 4000m team pursuit team at February's elite world championships in Paris. He also finished fourth in the points race in Paris, and at last year's junior world championships in Korea, which were also in the qualifying period for the awards, Gough won two golds, a silver and a bronze.

His coach, Ivar Hopman, who coaches national women's club champion Hannah van Kampen and the Ramblers Women's team, won the coach award.

When asked what his advice would be to coaches wanting to coach successful athletes Hopman said: "It has to come from the athlete, it has to come from their heart.

"You can't push them too hard."

Gough certainly meets that standard. After thanking his parents, coach Hopman and Sport Hawke's Bay's talent development co-ordinator Marcus Agnew, an emotional Gough also praised Hawke's Bay Olympian Rob Oliver for the tips he had given.

"Rob is very humble, very generous and he won't take 'thank yous' easy.

"So, bugger it, I will thank Rob here."

Champion rower Emma Twigg, who was unable to attend the event due to prior commitments, won the Hawke's Bay Senior Sportsperson of the Year Award, while the Hawke's Bay rugby Magpies received the Senior team of the Year award.

Meanwhile long serving Sport Hawke's Bay CEO Colin Stone, who recently resigned to take up a position with Sport New Zealand in Wellington, and commercial manager Kevin Murphy, who leaves to become Napier City Council's event manager, were presented with gifts for their service by Sport Hawke's Bay chairman Damon Harvey. A highlight of the evening was when opera singers Anna Pierard and the Prima Volta trio paid tribute to Mr Stone with a song.

New Sport Hawke's Bay CEO Mark Aspden was also introduced to the audience.