Kerikeri's Blair Tuke was emotional as he reminisced on his achievements after being named Northland Sportsperson of the Year, an accolade which sees him cemented in Northland sporting history.
Tuke's Olympic silver medal - won with Tauranga's Peter Burling - has seen his name placed alongside Northland sporting legends such
as Blyth Tait, Justin Collins and Sam Warriner.
"It's been a lot of hard work for me, but Northland sportspeople are awesome and I'm a proud Northlander so to have my name alongside theirs is pretty special. Forever I'll be the 2012 sportsperson of the year so that's pretty awesome," Tuke said.
"We hadn't really looked past August 8 for the past four years and everything we did was toward winning that medal, and to dedicate your life to something like that it's a great reward and to be able to share that with your friends and family is pretty cool."
The 23-year-old's performance in London not only etches his name into Northland's sporting history but also New Zealand's - he won the country's first yachting medal since 1992 and it was also New Zealand's 100th Olympic medal ever.
