Several Ballarat athletes, coaches and administrators last night attended the annual Ballarat Sportsmen’s Club award gala at Ballarat Golf Club with several athletics members nominated throughout the evening. With such an incredible variety of Ballarat athletes within the junior ranks this year, athletics were able to secure 5 nominations for the Wunhym trophy awarded to a young person aged 17 years and under in the calendar year of the award.
Wunhym Trophy Winner – Alanna Peart (Ballarat YCW Athletics Club)
Ballarat YCW Racewalking extraordinaire Alanna Peart was awarded the Wunhym Trophy for an outstanding season on the track during the 2021 calendar year. Following in the footsteps of her cousins and older family members, Alanna continued her progress as one of Australia’s best racewalkers with a variety of trophies added to the cabinet. After placing 2nd in the Women U20 10km Walk at the Australia Track & Field Championships, Alanna headed to the Oceania Race Walking Championships and competed in the 10km event where she not only finished 1st in the U20 Women category, but she also completed the race in a World Junior Qualifying time!
Alanna will soon head off to Adelaide where she will compete at the Australian 20km Race Walking Championships on February 14th! Good luck Alanna at the event on Monday
Widmer Award – Paul Cleary
A decorated coach at both local and state level, Ballarat’s own Paul Cleary took home the Widmer Award given to a coach, mentor or trainer who assists in the development of athletes within the region. An elite jumps, sprints and hurdles coach for many decades, Cleary has coached an incredible 22 national champions across his career with countless hours spent at Llanberris Athletics Reserve carefully teaching craft. The current coach of many talented athletes in Ballarat, Cleary has a great opportunity to add to his 22 national champions tally in coming years.
Nominations for Wunhym Award
With the incredible depth of talented junior athletes in Ballarat, BRAC would like to acknowledge the following athletes were nominated for the Wunhym award from athletics.
Archie Caldow (Track), Cooper Sherman (Track), Fraser Saunder (Racewalking) & Lachlan O’Keefe (High Jump)
