It’s always a proud moment for us to showcase another amazing year of paddling at our AGM and Annual Awards event.
This year was no exception, with an extra special event combining our Annual Awards with our Hall of Fame inductions.
It was wonderful to see so many from our Western Australian paddling community come along and share with us the incredible achievements of those among us nominated as deserving for these prestigious awards.
While celebrating our achievements for the year, we also acknowledge the valuable support we receive from DLGSC and Healthway for funding paddling as a sport and recreation. Their partnership allows us to host the diverse and prolific paddling calendar of events we enjoy throughout the year.
Thank you to Cassie Rowe MLA for Belmont for presenting our Hall of Fame inductees, and to Cr Deborah Sessions, Deputy Mayor of the City of Belmont for presenting our awards, we appreciate the City’s fantastic support of paddling.
Our thanks also to Swan Cafe for their delicious catering, and to Selena Lloyd for capturing photos of the day. See them in the gallery below.
Our small team would like to make extra special mention of a few lovely ladies who rolled up their sleeves and helped behind the scenes with clean up after lunch. Anita Greed, Sue McDougall and Margie Jeffery, your assistance was a welcome surprise and very much appreciated.
As always with our Western Australian paddling community, there were plenty who stayed behind and helped us with the pack down, and we thank you also for sharing the load and making the job a lot easier.
We didn’t need to ask. That’s what makes our community so amazing!
A White Water Wish
One big achievement this year has been 20 years in the making.
Thanks to Rob Riggir, we are a huge step closer to realising our dreams of an International White Water Centre here in WA. This multi-purpose centre, won’t just release the white water, but will be an adrenaline hub with many fast action activities to get your heart racing.
Rob has picked up from the vast body of work that has been researched and collected over the last 20 years by an army of passionate White Water advocates. We thank them for their incredible contribution and their patience!
This has been yet another demonstration of the power of community, especially ours! We are so excited to see what next year brings!
We are currently calling for expressions of interest for partnerships and financing. If you know of anyone who may be interested, please have them contact our office on (08) 9285 8501 or email admin@paddlewa.asn.au
2024 Paddle WA Annual Awards
Every year we call out for nominations, we are excited to read about and get to know some amazing paddlers and their stories, and this year did not disappoint.
We learned so much about you all and the incredible achievements and contributions you have made to paddling in WA.
We are proud to announce the following nominees and winners of the 2024 Paddle WA Annual Awards.
Contribution to Sport
Nominees:
- Canning River Canoe Club Social Paddlers
- Peter Ewing
- Isabel Combe
Winner: Peter Ewing
Volunteer of the Year
Nominees:
- Doug Hodson
- Mick Small
- Peter Ewing
- Andrew Pope
- Trina Farrell
- Rob Riggir
Winner: Andrew Pope
Club Coach of the Year
Nominees:
- Coran Longwood
- Jeremy Alderson
- Kobe Wilson
- Scott Florisson
Winner: Coran Longwood
Junior Paddler of the Year
Nominees:
- Connor Jacob
- Hunter Florisson
Winner: Hunter Florisson
Master Paddler of the Year
Nominees:
- Dave Berglund
Winner: Dave Berglund
Senior Paddler of the Year
Nominees:
- Amy Ralph
- Yale Steinepreis
- Luke Egger
- Josh Kippin
- Brodie Crawford
Winner: Yale Steinepreis
Congratulations to our winners and nominees!
Paddle WA do not nominate, these are peer led awards and we hope you keep an eye out through the coming year for those stand out people who deserve nomination for the 2025 Awards.
We thank all those who attended our gala event and look forward to seeing you all again at next years awards!
Read on for our next post on the 2024 Hall of Fame induction.