Image: Athletics North Queensland award winners from the Mackay Athletics Club. L-R: Mikayla Webb, Justin Rule, James Grech, Kym Galea and Kevin Galea (on behalf of son James Galea)
While Mackay is full of outstanding athletes who can run fast, jump further than most and throw heavy objects a long way; the Mackay Athletics Club was recently recognised across all facets of its sport, recognising the valuable contribution of its top volunteers among its talented athletes.
At the Athletics North Queensland (ANQ) Awards earlier this month, Mackay and the Whitsundays took out around half of the awards, from an area spanning the Keppel Coast in the south to Cairns in the north, and inland encompassing the Tablelands, Mount Isa and Emerald.
Lee-Anne Hinschen from the Whitsundays club and James Grech from Mackay Athletics were both recognised for their long-standing dedication to the sport of athletics, by receiving life membership awards.
Other dedicated volunteers to be recognised were the mother-and-son duo of Kym and James Galea, awarded Official of the Year and Junior Official of the Year respectively. Kymโs contribution is huge behind the scenes, looking after a plethora of administration, as well as volunteering on the field as an official. Her son James is a talented athlete but also dedicates his time to being an official in-between his own events. Kymโs husband, Kevin, is also an exceptional masters athlete and coaches athletes in throwing events.
Mackay Athletics Club also took the gong for the best event for its annual Track and Field Carnival.
The athletes recognised for their exceptional talent were Mikayla Webb, winning the Emerging Athlete of the Year and Justin Rule, winning the Masters Athlete of the Year.
Record-breaking sprinter Mikayla Webb captured silver medals in the 100m and 200m dash at this yearโs Queensland Secondary Schools Athletics Championships in Brisbane.
Only days before winning this award, Justin Rule had been competing at the Pan Pacific Masters Championships on the Gold Coast. Justin had an exceptional competition, producing personal-best times to win two gold medals, two silvers and a bronze, as well as coming fourth in four other events. He said his highlight of this competition was the 1500m race where he ran one of the best tactical races of his masters running career, winning by more than four seconds.
From the Whitsundays, Sylvie Thureau-Martin also won the Recreational Runner of the Year award.
๐๐ก๐ค ๐๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ช๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฆ (Mackay and Whitsundays)
๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ๐
Lee-Anne Hinschen (Whitsundays)
James Grech (Mackay)
๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐
Mikayla Webb - Emerging Athlete of the Year (Mackay)
Justin Rule - Masters Athlete of the Year (Mackay)
Sylvie Thureau-Martin- Recreational Runner of the Year (Whitsunday)
Kym Galea - Official of the Year (Mackay)
James Galea - Junior Official of the Year (Mackay)
Mackay Track and Field Carnival - Event of the Year
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