Zandee-Hart headlines Victoria Sports Awards winners
The Greater Victoria Sports Awards reboot, for achievement in 2022, will be headlined by Canada hockey gold-medallists Micah Zandee-Hart of Saanichton and Dylan Garand of Langford.
Blue-liner Zandee-Hart, who won gold at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, has been named Greater Victoria female athlete of the year and New York Rangers-prospect goaltender Garand, who backstopped Canada to 2022 world junior championship gold, the junior male athlete of the year.
Riley Pickrell was named male athlete of the year, as chosen by the selection committee. He had a breakthrough pro season in Europe with the Israel Cycling Academy team and won the fourth stage of the U-23 Giro d’Italia before representing Canada in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Emerging diver Renee Batalla was selected top female junior athlete for winning senior nationals and making the Canadian Commonwealth Games team at only 15.
Hall of Fame golfer Jim Rutledge, who won the 2022 PGA Seniors Championship of Canada for his seventh career title in the event, will accept the Victoria male senior athlete of the year award. Cyclist Heather Simonson will receive the senior female athlete accolade.
The Alex Nelson Awards for top indigenous athletes are to national-champion UVic Vikes field hockey player Judy Cristante for women’s and lacrosse player Ben Pawluk for men’s. The B.C. team at the 2022 Canada Summer Games dedicated their gold medal to teammate Pawluk, who was battling cancer, and unable to play in the Games.
There was a tie for team of the year with the UVic Vikes field hockey squad and Camosun Chargers volleyball team, both national champions, named cowinners. The coach of the year award was also a tie and will go to the respective retiring mentors of the Vikes women’s field hockey and Camosun men’s volleyball squads — Lynne Beecroft and Charles Parkinson, both former national-teamers.
Troy Birtwistle from baseball will receive the Pat Hall Volunteer Award and Boardworks Diving, which produced three athletes for Canadian team to the Commonwealth Games, the John and Marilyn Bate Award for organization of the year.
The awards will be presented March 2 in a ceremony at Government House. It is the revival of the Greater Victoria Sports Awards banquet which ran from 1968 to 2005. The original awards were discontinued due to cost and logistics following the 2005 ceremony in which NBA MVP Steve Nash was named Victoria male athlete of the year, 2004 Athens Paralympics multimedallist swimmer Stephanie Dixon top female athlete, future Olympic-medallist swimmer Ryan Cochrane junior athlete of the year and then Victoria Shamrocks lacrosse mentor Walt Christianson coach of the year.
The awards are being revived by the Greater Victoria Sport Tourism Commission and 94 Forward. Olympic medallist rower Dave Calder and Paralympic medallist wheelchair racer Michelle Stilwell will be the masters of ceremony. Tickets are $75 with all proceeds going to KidSport Greater Victoria. For tickets go to gvsa.ca.