Hawke’s Bay Sports Awards 2023: Emma Twigg claims record fourth Supreme Award

Emma Twigg racing at the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland in July, qualifying for a fifth Olympic Games. Photo / Art of Rowing, Rowing New Zealand

Seated champions have again come to the fore at the Forsyth Barr Hawke’s Bay Sports Awards, with rower Emma Twigg the champion for a record fourth time - but unable to take a seat at the table for the big event.

Twigg, now 36, also won in 2005, 2007 and last year, but when the awards were presented in the Pettigrew Green Arena in front of 425 people on Saturday night, she was in the US competing at a regatta in Philadelphia, leaving her father Peter Twigg to attend the formalities in her home town.

There were 14 categories in the awards and it was the seventh time in nine years the Supreme Award had gone to someone racing on the seat of their pants.

Canoe racer Aimee Fisher, another finalist unable to be present because of commitments elsewhere, won the Supreme award in 2016, 2018 and 2020, while cyclist Regan Gough won in 2015 and 2020.

Reigning Olympic Games women’s single sculls champion Twigg was runner-up at the 2023 World Championships, qualifying for a place at the Olympic Games for a fifth time - part of what her dad conceded was a “stellar” career.

The coveted teams award went to the Hawke’s Bay Tui women’s rugby team, who reached the national Farah Palmer Cup semifinals after being promoted to the top grade at the end of 2022.

The most competitive category was the Emerging Talent Award, which went to ex-Taradale High School student Emma Findlay, who made her debut for the Black Sticks and is now headed for the Junior World Cup in Chile.

The golf team from her old school won the Junior Team of the Year award, to go with the Hawke’s Bay Secondary Schools Team of the Year Award Taradale won last month, recognising it as the first Hawke’s Bay team to win the national secondary schools title.

For the second year in a row, Central Hawke’s Bay claimed the Community Initiative Award, the accolade for the organisers of Flemington School fundraiser the Flemington Mud Run.

Mike Trautvetter and Terry O’Neill were awarded the Glenn Cook Technology Lifetime Contribution to Sport awards for their contribution to rowing and football respectively. Still heavily involved in their sports, the two stalwarts have contributed to the ongoing success of Hawke’s Bay Rowing and Napier City Rovers and the Eskview Football Club.

It was the Eskview club that claimed the Grassroots Club of the Year Award, having had to battle some of the most severe community consequences of the cyclone.

Sport Hawke’s Bay general manager Ryan Hambleton said: “The awards play an important role in celebrating our region, and this year it was extra special to bring everyone together and reflect on what has been a difficult year for so many”.

The 2023 awards winners were:

Sport.co.nz Volunteer of the Year: Ross Webb, rowing

Three Wise Birds Community Initiative of the Year: Flemington Mud Run

Brebner Print Official of the Year: Dan Waenga, rugby union

Fortune Favours Coach of the Year: Shea McAleese, hockey

Stirling Sports Grassroots Club of the Year: Eskview United Association Football Club

Health Hawke’s Bay Activating Te Matau a Māui: Te Matau a Mauī Hawke’s Bay Māori Rugby

Kennedy Park Resort Napier Master Sportsperson of the Year: Lance Baylis, powerlifting

Glenn Cook Technology Lifetime Contribution to Sport: Mike Trautvetter, rowing; Terry O’Neill, football

Rachael Knight Emerging Talent: Emma Findlay, hockey

EIT Te Pūkenga Junior Team of the Year: Taradale High School golf

Tremains Senior Team of the Year: Hawke’s Bay Tui rugby

Paladin Disabled Sportsperson of the Year: Peter Cowan, canoe racing

Mediaworks Senior Sportsperson of the Year: Emma Twigg, rowing

Forsyth Barr Hawke’s Bay Supreme Award: Emma Twigg, rowing