A brother and sister duo have taken out the 2015 Wairarapa Māori Sports Awards.
Published: Friday, 18 December 2015 | Rāmere, 18 Hakihea, 2015
A brother and sister duo have taken out the 2015 Wairarapa Māori Sports Awards.
Pounamu (10) and Kaahurere MacKay (9) both excel in taekwondo and were announced overall winners at the awards night held in Masterton recently.
They topped the Tai Tamariki Tāne (male primary intermediate school) and the Tai Tamariki Wāhine (female primary or intermediate school) categories.
Te Puni Kōkiri provided sponsorship to the Awards night which was established seven years ago by Jeff Workman.
Jeff was a former Masterton District councilor and kaimahi at Whaiora, a local service provider.
He launched the awards to encourage the community to get in behind sports and to celebrate the success of sporting excellence by Māori who whakapapa to the region.
A special Jeff Workman Memorial Award was entered as a new category in this year’s competition. In a novel approach organisers used Facebook to encourage community nominations and voting for the Jeff Workman Memorial Award. With over 4000 votes, Joseph Teofilo won for his achievements in chess.
The annual event continues to grow in popularity and organiser Ngapera Parata said 260 locals showed up to the Awards night to lend their support.
“I hope we can build on this year’s success and in 2016 encourage more people and whānau to nominate our Wairarapa athletes for the accolades they deserve.”
Jeff Workman Award recipient – Joseph Teofilo.
2015 Māori Sports Awards Winners
Taumata Hākinakina - Overall Winner
Pounamu Mackay & Kaahurere Mackay
Category Winners:
Tai Tamariki Tāne
Kaahurere Mackay
Tai Tamariki Wahine
Pounamu Mackay
Tai Ohi Tāne
Joseph Teofilo
Tai Ohi Wahine
Vania Mason
Tai Pakeke Tāne
Aperahama Hurihanganui
Tai Pakeke Wahine
Talia Hullena
Kaiarahi
Carlene Karaitiana
Tino Tautoko
Keely Riwai-Couch
Te Rōpū o te Tau
Makoura Senior A Netball
Jeff Workman Memorial Award
Joseph Teofilo