Halberg Award nominees announced

A stellar year for cycling and rowing has been reflected in Halberg Award nominations.

Out of 66 nominations in four categories, 14 are in cycling and nine in rowing.

A swathe of cyclists are in the running for sportsman of the year, led by road cyclists Julian Dean, Hayden Roulston and Greg Henderson, who are joined by team pursuiter Jesse Sergent and young scratch race and madison expert Tom Scully.

In the sportswoman section, road cyclist Catherine Cheatley has tough competition from individual pursuit world champion Alison Shanks and BMX world champion Sarah Walker.

The men's and women's team pursuit teams, and the men's madison have been nominated for the sports team of the year award, while Tim Carswell, Dayle Cheatley, and Craig Palmer are nominated for coach of the year.

World champion sculler Mahe Drysdale is joined by lightweight sculler Duncan Grant in the nominations for sportsman of the year.

Lightweight double Storm Uru and Peter Taylor are in the running for the sports team of the year, as are the men's pair of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray.

Drysdale, Grant, Uru and Taylor, and Bond and Murray all won gold at the world rowing championships in Poland in August.

Emma Feathery and Rebecca Scown, who took bronze in the women's pair at the world championships, have been nominated for the sportswoman of the year, where they are joined by single sculler Emma Twigg, who was fourth at the world championships.

Calvin Ferguson and Richard Tonks have been nominated for the coach of the year award.

Each year the Halberg Trust calls for nominations from New Zealand national sports bodies and a voting academy to determine four finalists for the sportsman, sportswoman and sports team categories.

From those 12 finalists, a 29-strong Voting Academy -- comprising media representatives, athletes and coaches -- will select one to receive the overall Halberg Award at a ceremony in Auckland on February 4.

This year, the Halberg Trust received 24 nominations for the sportsman category, 17 in the sportswoman section, 15 in the team category and 10 nominations for coach of the year.

The category finalists will not be announced until early next month so late performances by individual athletes or teams during 2009 can be considered.

In addition, there were 16 nominations for the emerging talent award, being presented for the fourth time, which offers a $15,000 scholarship. The four finalists for 2009 are Sam Webster (cycling), Aaron Cruden (rugby), Robbie Manson (rowing) and Sam Meech (sailing).

The full list of nominations for the 2009 awards:

Sportsman of the Year: Michael Ardern (paralympics), Dan Carter (rugby), Julian Dean (cycling), Scott Dixon (motor sport), Mahe Drysdale (rowing), Chris Eaden (ice hockey), Rory Fallon (football), Duncan Grant (rowing), Adam Hall (paralympics), Greg Henderson (cycling), Daniel Holt (paralympics), Cameron Leslie (paralympics), Rob Matthews (paralympics), Richie McCaw (rugby), Peter Michael (speed skating), Adam Minopiro (sailing), Ryan Nelsen (football), Kirk Penney (basketball), Hayden Roulston (cycling), Tom Scully (cycling), Jesse Sergent (cycling), Daniel Sharp (paralympics), David Tua (boxing) and Daniel Vettori (cricket).

Sportswoman of the Year: Nicole Begg (speed skating), Catherine Cheatley (cycling), Emma Feathery (rowing), Mary Fisher (paralympics), Paige Hareb (surfing), Andrea Hewitt (triathlon), Miriam Jenkins (paralympics), Hayley Moorwood (football), Sophie Pascoe (paralympics), Rebecca Scown (rowing), Alison Shanks (cycling), Paula Tesoriero (paralympics), Emma Twigg (rowing), Valerie Vili (athletics), Sarah Walker (cycling), Casey Williams (netball) and Monique Williams (athletics).

Sports Team of the Year: All Blacks (rugby), All Whites (football), Black Sox (softball), Black Sticks men (hockey), Black Sticks women (hockey), Brad Jackson and Stu Bannatyne (sailing), Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (rowing), Ice Blacks (ice hockey), men's madison (cycling), men's team pursuit (cycling), Silver Ferns (netball), Storm Uru and Peter Taylor (rowing), Tall Blacks (basketball), women's team pursuit (cycling) and women's 420 (sailing).

Coach of the Year: Ruth Aitken (netball), Tim Carswell (cycling), Dayle Cheatley (cycling), Calvin Ferguson (rowing), Kirsten Hellier (athletics), Ricki Herbert (football), Craig Palmer (cycling), Gordon Tietjens (rugby), Richard Tonks (rowing) and Nenad Vucinic (basketball).

- NZPA

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michael   #14   02:22 pm Feb 04 2010

No one cares about football he in NZ, give the award to vettori, sportsman of the year and coach of the year too. What a champion player ...

JMS   #13   02:42 pm Dec 30 2009

Thrilled to see Julian Deans name on the list. For those who dont follow cycling he is a true team player - for every winner in a cycle race there are up to eight team members getting them there and hes an absolute pro at it. BUT this year he did an amazing feat of being the only Pro cyclist to complete all three Grand Tours. The work ethic of athletes like Julian is amazing and its a shame how little recognition they get from our own media. My votes for JULIAN DEAN

dylan   #12   02:02 pm Dec 28 2009

Why do the All Blacks even get nominated? For their 3 loss fail against South Africa? Sounds about right...

AJ   #11   01:58 pm Dec 28 2009

Im actually a little annoyed that Rory Fallon is nominated for Sportsman of the year, but wheres Shane Smeltz? Hes scored plenty more goals in this campaign, played more games, won the A-league golden boot last season and has smashed the A-league goal scoring season record this season with plenty more games to be played.

Scott   #10   11:13 am Dec 23 2009

All Whites deserve their nomination but thats about as far as they should get.

Vettori hands down should win sportsman of the year, rexhapi - while I do agree with you on the Dixon issue, he should of won it last year, this year he does not deserve it. Vettori has singlehandidly kepy NZ cricket respectable...

Dan   #9   09:06 am Dec 22 2009

It is pretty hard to justify awarding the 82nd ranked team in the world an award over a world champion pair.

Karl   #8   12:07 am Dec 22 2009

#7 - That is because the All Whites have qualified for THE biggest world sporting stage. The other athletes, while they maybe champions are simply big fish in a smaller pool (though I do not want to minimise their accomplisment, just compare the 2 as others have).

The fact that the All Whites, many of them amateurs, qualified to compete alongside the most professional and elite sportspeople on the planet, cannot be ignored. Ryan Nelsen is NZs highest paid sportsman, is captain of the of the teams in the top football league in the world and deserves recognition.

Dan   #7   09:29 pm Dec 21 2009

Although the All Whites have done exceptionally well to reach the World Cup, they surely can't be in the running for a team award against others who are world champions, same for the individuals. The awards should be about excellence on the world stage not qualifying to compete.

Eddie   #6   05:44 pm Dec 21 2009

I'm sure Daniel Vettori will be disappointed to not be nominated for coach of the year.

Jimbob   #5   04:45 pm Dec 21 2009

This is football's year. Go Riki, Rory, Ryan, Hayley and the All Whites.

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