www.milduraweekly.com.au68 Mildura Weekly – 09/11/12

‘Millsy’ to be remembered by

Port to Port riders

•  From Page 70

Damien Gibson took out the Stephen Benson Contribution Award, recognised for his long-standing involvement with the program, serving as strength and conditioning coach.

John Roberts kicked off the 2011 Football Program awards – which were presented by coach Heather Stamation – with John winning the Outstanding Achieve-ment Award.

John was successful in gain-ing selection in the 2011 Under 14 state country team, which compet-ed in Coffs Harbour.

He represented Sunraysia at the Victorian Challenge Cup in Bendigo – where he captained the winning Under 14 team – while also representing the region in Broken Hill for the South Austra-lian Country Championships. He currently plays for Nichols Point in the local competition and played in the Victorian Champi-ons League for the Loddon Mallee Lightening.

Annabel Martin won the 2011 Football Academy Award, recog-nised for her positive attitude and commitment to the program. She earned selection in the state Under 13 girls country team, while also representing Sunraysia in Broken Hill at the SA Country Champion-ships – playing in the Under 13 Boys team.

Annabel also represented Sun-raysia in the Under 13 Boys team at the Victorian Challenge Cup in Bendigo, and was also selected for the Loddon Mallee Lightening.

Chris Grimmer and Val Voli-otis shared the 2011 Heather Sta-mation Contribution Award, with the pair both taking on the role of assistant coaches half-way through the season.

Kicking off the 2011/12 Volley-ball Program awards was Kyahm Ross, who won the Alison Styles Outstanding Achievement Award. Kyahm was selected in the Under 17 Blue Victorian volleyball team, while also attending a national camp in December 2011.

The 2012 Tanya McInnerney Academy Award went to Adrian Fox, who also earned Victorian representation this year in the Under 19 White side, while the 2012 Stephen Benson Contribu-tion Award went to Rod Robinson

– a volunteer within the volleyball program.

SAS Golf program coach, Garth Doherty, was responsible for hand-ing out the 2012 golf awards on the night, with Tom Holmes win-ning the Greg Rhodes Outstanding Achievement Award.

Tom enjoyed a successful year in 2011/12, recording strong re-sults in this year’s district open age tournaments with a fifth place at the Sunraysia District Champion-ships and at the Merbein Open. Tom also won the Sunraysia Dis-trict Junior Championships at Coomealla, and shot the second best score of the day from the Sunraysia men’s team in the first

round of the Country Champion-ships in Melbourne.

Brooke Tremelling won the 2012 Ken Harrison Academy Award, after only taking up the sport 12 months ago, while Tim Peterson won the Ken Cameron Contribution Award in recogni-tion on his role at the golf pro-gram’s liaison officer.

Peter Marziano got the 2012 Football Program awards under-way, accepting the Outstanding Achievement Award from Mildura coach, Heather Stamation, and Swan Hill coach Dave Coward.

Peter participated in the Re-gional Challenge Cup in Bendigo earlier this year, and was also se-

lected for Victorian Under 13 Boys Country Squad. He went on to play in the 2012 Boys National Youth Championships, which was held in Coffs Harbour last month.

The 2012 Soccer Program Acad-emy Award went to Yanni Voliotis, in recognition of his high level of improvement, while the Contri-bution Award was shared by Paul Smith and Mitch Brown.

Paul was assistant coach to Swan Hill coach Dave Coward, providing a high level of coaching knowledge, while Mitch was assis-tant, and strength and condition-ing coach in Mildura.

Olympian and guest speaker for the night, Sarah Tait, alongside volleyball coach, Allan Hassell fin-ished off the night by presenting the SAS Overall Awards, with Cara Meyer winning the 2011 Matthew Knights Outstanding Achievement Award.

Other overall award winners included Annabel Martin (2011 Jamie Siddons Academy Award), Damien Gibson (2011 Allan Has-sell Contribution Award), Kyahm Ross (2012 Matthew Knights Out-standing Achievement Award), Adrian Fox (2012 Jamie Siddons Academy Award), and Paul Smith (2012 Allan Hassell Contribution Award).

Deanna said the Academy was now focused on the 2012/13 season, with two new programs – tennis and athletics – to be intro-duced in the coming weeks.

“We’re very happy with how the Academy is tracking, with the community getting behind the ini-tiative,” she said.

“We’re looking forward to the new season getting underway, and continuing to watch our young athletes grow and develop, and hopefully achieve a pathway to greater success.”

SAS athletes take lessons from Olympic hero

•  PATHWAY TO SUCCESS: Former Sunraysia local Cara 

Meyer, ABOVE, was recognised for her sporting efforts at the recent Sunraysia Academy of Sport Awards night, taking home the 

2010/11 Alison Styles Outstanding Achievement Award, and the 2011 

Matthew Knights Outstanding Achievement Award. RIGHT – 

Peter Marziano, with coaches Dave Coward and Heather Stamation, accepts the 2012 Soccer Program Outstanding Achievement Award.

FORMER Mildura Weekly columnist and popular triathlete and cyclist, Peter Mills, will be in the hearts and minds of more than 400 cyclists and their support crews when this year’s Port to Port ride gets underway tomorrow.

Participants will pay tribute to Peter, who passed away in July this year after a long and courageous battle with cancer, honouring his contribution to the ride before they set off from Mildura.

Local identity Bill Sauer along with Pe-ter’s close friend John Fleming and Peter’s wife, Colleen, will oversee the start of this year’s event in what ride director Kevin Mur-ray said would be one of life’s “happy-sad” occasions.

“Pete’s battle with cancer has seen years of treatment and we all feel that he will be there in spirit, pain-free at last,” Kevin said.

“He played an important role in the de-velopment of the ride, which has already raised around $500,000 for Mallee Family Care and Chances for Children.”

Kevin said that outside his efforts for Mallee Family Care and Chances for Chil-dren, Peter had inspired many Sunraysia res-idents to exercise and improve their health.

“Peter achieved this through his spin classes, bike tours and his regular articles in Mildura Weekly,” Kevin said.

“There will likely be some participants this year who probably owe their lives to Pete given his influences on their health.”

The Port to Port is a two-day bike ride starting in Mildura tomorrow, taking in Hattah, Wemen, and Boundary Bend before arriving in Swan Hill for an overnight stop-over.

Riders will be back in the saddle early Sunday morning for the final stretch to Echuca.

Anyone wishing to see the start and pay tribute to Peter tomorrow is welcome to at-tend the Mildura Wharf at 7am.

REIGNING Sunraysia Cricket As-sociation premiers, Workers Gol Gol, will join Mildura East and Mildura Settlers as favourites for victory heading into the second week of Round Four of Division One competition, after all three sides dominated their opposition last weekend.

Workers amassed a massive 271 against Irymple, with a 135-run partnership between make-shift opener Tony Hickey (85), and club stalwart, David Hogarth (78), helping to take the wind out of the Swallows’ sails earlier in the day.

When Hickey was forced to retire at the tea break (to attend a wedding), it began a collapse for the reigning premiers, with Work-ers losing their final seven wickets for 100 runs.

Irymple leg-spinner Jordan Payne proved the chief destroyer – taking 4/44 – while captain Rhys Webb (2/58) and Ben Gath-ercole (2/52) also worked hard with the ball.

Irymple will begin tomor-row’s play on 0/12, with Jordan Payne and Webb at the crease.

The young opening pair will be under pressure to get their side off to a good start, providing the likes of Brendan Payne, Chris Mc-Gregor, and the side’s young and vibrant tail a chance to attack.

Workers will look to the likes of spearhead Matt Cameron, Brett Cumming, and off-spinner Nick Jensen to lead their attack, with

an enthralling battle on the cards if the Swallows can dig in.

Workers are the form side here – having not lost a game so far this season – and it should be their experience that will trump the young and up-coming Swal-lows.

Mildura Settlers will go into the second week of their clash against Coomealla-Wentworth confident, after amassing a

mighty total of 277, with Richie Wyld (53), Matthew Masotti (75), Mark Clearly (34), and Tra-vis Shawcross (31) all contribut-ing to the total.

Wyld and Masotti got the ball rolling early, helping Setts recover from the early loss of Braidyn Turner for just 4.

The pair put on 120-runs for the second wicket, allowing the likes of all-rounder Clearly and Shawcross to tee-off late in the day.

Myles Wade (3/73) and Tim Plumridge (2/47) were the pick of Coomealla’s bowlers.

Setts have the bowling stocks to defend the large total, with Clearly, Mark Kerr, and youngster Brayden Wood capable of taking big bags.

Glen Thompson and Jeremy Giddings have been the best with the bat for Coomie so far this

season, with Tim Plumridge also eyeing off a big score.

The chase is going to be a tough one for the Coomie boys, with much resting on the shoul-ders of Giddings.

Setts should have the stocks to keep Coomealla under the tar-get, and secure the points.

The final game of the round will see East take on Merbein South, with the latter struggling for consistency so far in season 2012/13.

Batting first, Merbein got off to a terrible start, losing their first four wickets for just 13 runs.

A 68-run stand between Aar-on Finch (49) and Aaron Walder (45 not out) added some respect-ability to the total, with the side eventually dismissed for 124.

Mathew Hunt (4/9) was the pick of the bowlers, with his 20-over effort including an amazing 15 maidens.

New recruit Ryan Dowdy (2/36), Jhy Berry (2/46), and Lionel Sexton (2/9) also featured prominently.

East will resume tomorrow on 0/37, with the likes of Tom Vadlja and Jason Bruhn to be keen to dig in for a long stay at the crease.

Shane and Tony Trinnick will be the keys for Merbein with the ball, with the Merbein South team to be keen to take a few early wickets, and put the pres-sure back on East’s talented bat-ting line-up.

Mildura West have the bye.

Victory in sight for SCA ladder-leaders

• SPEEDSTER: Workers Gol Gol spearhead Matt 

Cameron will be instrumental in guiding his side to victory against Irymple tomorrow, with his side defending a 

score of 271. RIGHT – Irymple batsman Brendan Payne will be instrumental in his side’s chase.