AWARDS: Gough targets world double

SHANE HURNDELL
Halloween has been and gone but Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools Sportsperson of the Year Westley Gough still has a curse he wants to break.
"No Kiwi cyclist has been a junior world champion and then gone on to be a senior world champion ... I want to do that," Central Hawke's Bay College's Gough said after receiving his award in Napier last night.
"I want to help New Zealand retain that junior world title next year and then become a senior elite rider so I can compete at the Olympic Games and senior world championships," he said after the ASB Bank-sponsored function attended by 300 people at the Century Theatre.
And the world champion New Zealand Junior Men's 4000m team's pursuit team member is heading along the right track to break the curse.
The 17-year-old year 13 student, who has already been branded "Tour De France material" by his coach and Ramblers Cycling Club clubmate, former professional Brendon Vesty, has a busy 12 months ahead.
Between swotting for, and sitting, three level three NCEA exams during the next month Gough will be busy training for next month's Oceania track championships in Wanganui and the Wanganui-hosted January track nationals.
"Depending on where I'm at in my training schedule it can be anything from 50km to 140km a day," he said.
In May next year Gough will start a three-month High Performance training scholarship in Switzerland. When that finishes he intends to join his New Zealand team-mates in Belgium where they will attempt to retain their world title.
"Well that's if everything goes to plan and I've been fortunate that everything has so far," added Gough who is eyeing a career as a professional cyclist.
Gough's schoolmate, motocross rider Adam Lawrence, won the Fair Play award last night but was unable to receive it due to illness.
Karamu High School's Greg Ross, who coached his school's national title-winning junior boys and girls canoe polo teams, collected the top coach award. He said it was easy to coach successful teams when the players were committed with a "positive buzz".
Napier Boys' High School rugby referee Tipene Cottrell took home the top official award. Hastings Boys' High School's national title-winning softball team captured the team award.
Three-time world champion surf lifesaving ironman champion Cory Hutchings of Gisborne, Hawke's Bay's junior world champion rower Emma Twigg and Hawke's Bay United's former Scotland World Cup soccer player Johnny Gould were the guest speakers at last night's Sport Hawke's Bay-organised function.
Hutchings, 32, stressed the importance of having dreams and goals. The 11-time national ironman champion said his next goal was to represent New Zealand in kayaking at the 2008 Olympics.
Twigg's next major international assignment is the under-23 World Cup in August and is rowing 30-50km a day in training. Gould spoke about his life as a professional soccer player in the United Kingdom. The Hawke's Bay Soccer Academy boss returned to the Bay for a second time this year after a previous stint with Napier City Rovers 16 years ago.
"I wanted to give something back to the game in an environment where there isn't the huge pressure like there is back home," he said.