FOUR OF WA'S BEST UP FOR SPORTWEST AWARDS

Athletics West will be well represented at this year's SportWest Awards with four from our community up for awards. The WA Sports Industry's biggest night of the year will see Madison de Rozario and Peter Bol battle it out for the evening's most prestigious award, the WA Sports Star award. While junior athlete Taylah Cruttenden is up for the rebel Junior Sports Star and WA Official Bob Schickert has been nominated for the Roobix Service to Sport - May Campbell Medal.

To shine a light on these four incredible nominees, we've recapped their nominations to help celebrate this year's awards. 

Madison de Rozario - WA Sports Star Nominee

A three-time world champion and two-time Commonwealth Games champion, Madison had three Paralympic Games silvers to her name before Tokyo. After placing fifth in her opening event, the T54 5000m, she went on to claim two gold and a bronze Paralympic medal. In the T54 1500m, she placed third in (3:28.24), before returning to her pedigree event, the 800m, where she won gold in a time of 1:45.99. Next for Madison was the marathon, where she achieved one of the great moments of the Games for Australia. Not often do you see a nail-biting finish in the Marathon, however, in Tokyo Madison had to sprint home and surge to a stunning victory in a Paralympic record of 1:38.11. Madison’s two gold medals are rare and she is the first Australian female Paralympian in athletics to win two gold since Lisa McIntosh in 2008 and in the last 20 years, previously only Lisa and Amy Winters (2004) have achieved this feat.

To top off 2021, Madison then backed up her sensational Tokyo performances winning the women's elite wheelchair event at the 2021 New York Marathon. She is the first Australian woman, either in a wheelchair or in the open event to claim victory on the 42km course.

Peter Bol - WA Sports Star Nominee

After a dominant domestic season in 2021, Peter Bol became the fastest Australian 800m athlete in history as he narrowly missed a historic medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Ranked 19th going into Tokyo, he was on from the start, placing second in his 800m heat in an Australian record time of 1:44.13. The next day, he positioned himself as a medal prospect winning his semi-final in another National record of 1:44.11. In the 800m final, a slower more tactical race, Bol was gutsy and gave himself every chance to finish on the podium, eventually placing an incredible fourth. Bol's fourth-place result has only been bettered by Olympic champions and pioneers Edwin Flack (1896) and Ralph Doubell (1968). It was the highest place by an Australian male in an individual track event since Darren Clark's fourth in the 400m in 1988 – 33 years ago and before Peter was born. 

Taylah Cruttenden - rebel Junior Sports Star Nominee

Taylah Cruttenden is a pocket-rocket of speed. The West Australian has had a dominating junior career and at only 17 years of age, Cruttenden secured her fifth consecutive Junior National 100m title in Sydney and was officially selected on the Australia team for the World Athletics Under 20 Championships in Nairobi. Cruttenden entered the Nationals in career-best form, with a new personal best of 11.49 (a new State Record). Equallying the Championships Record, Cruttenden flew home in the Under 20 Final to cross the line in 11.64. 

While Australia ultimately decided not to send a team to the World Athletics Under 20 Championships, Cruttenden's National Final time would have seen her place seventh in the 100m Final. However, if Cruttenden was able to replicate her personal and season-best, she would have comfortably collected Bronze on her debut. 

Bob Schickert - Roobix Service to Sport (May Campbell Medal) Nominee

Robert 'Bob' Schickert is a stalwart of Athletics in WA. He has over 40 years of experience as an Australian athlete, administrator and official at local, regional and world competitions.

Throughout his time as an athlete Bob has won two Gold, two Silver and two Bronze World Master Athletics Championships medals, as well as 11 Gold, 18 Silver and 23 Bronze Australian Masters Athletics Championships medals. Bob has also been awarded the Australian Sports Medal, the World Master Athletics Award at Lyon General Assembly for services to Masters Athletics, as well as multiple Life Memberships. 

In addition to his athlete career, Bob has established himself as an effective administrator taking on key responsibilities at a state, national and international level. He has held a range of positions including, President, Treasurer and Secretary of WA Masters Athletics Club, World Masters Athletics Law and Legislation Committee Member, Competition Committee Member and Safety Officer, as well as Secretary of Oceania Masters Athletics. Finally, as an official, Bob has been a constant at Athletics West competitions for more than 20 years. As an Accredited Australian Athletics Official, Bob attends weekly state events as WA's Track Officiating team. 

Athletics West would like to congratulate all four nominees and wishes them the best of luck for the 2021 SportWest Awards. 

The 2021 SportWest Awards are set for Optus Stadium on Thursday 24 February, with the Awards set to be live-streamed via SportWest's Facebook page. 

You can follow all the athletics action via Athletics West’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.  

For more information about how you can get involved in athletics, contact Athletics West on 08 6272 0480.  

By David Smith, Athletics West (Extra Reporting by Athletics Australia)
Posted: 23/2/2022