Many athletes and families braved the cold to come out and celebrate the achievements of athletes throughout the previous season.

The club congratulated all competitors who participated during cross country in winter 2013, track and field during summer 2013/14 and summer road runs, and presented trophies to the first three placegetters in each section and division.

It is obvious that Nowra Athletics Club has a wealth of talent in it’s midst, and much of this talent seems to run in the family. 

The Babian family took home a boot load of trophies for the mantelpiece with each family member receiving at least one trophy. 

Young Jake won the cross country two kilometre division one, while father Leith won the long course division one and mother Laura came third in the three kilometre division two. 

On the track, Jake took home another trophy for first place in D grade track, while brother James won E grade track and field. 

Not to be outdone, Laura came second in veterans grade in the field events and Leith received his second trophy for the night with first place in the men’s veterans grade for top track points. 

This year was Leith’s first year competing at a competition level on the track when he participated at NSW Country Championships in Wollongong in January. Leith put in a gutsy performance that showed he has the heart of a horse like Phar Lap when he had a crowd stopping photo finish run in the 800 metres, getting pipped at the post by a nose, and taking silver. 

For this outstanding performance Leith was awarded the prestigious Frank McCaffrey Award.

The Seccombe family also took home a collection of trophies. 

Indie Seccombe took second place in the cross country two kilometres division one as well as second place in C grade division one track. 

Sister Annie took first in E grade track while dad Scott also took home a trophy for second place in the long course division one.

Another successful family was the Norwoods with Keeghan, Stirling and Eilish all taking home track and field trophies. 

Keeghan was also honoured with the John Morris Encouragement Award for his consistent effort and dedication throughout the cross country season.

Other families to be awarded with multiple trophies included the Rodda family, the Dobson family, the Davidson family, the Urquhart family and the Musson family, to name just a few. 

The Nowra Toyota Encouragement Award went to Michael Duncan and the Handicappers Award for consistent improvement and 100 per cent effort in cross country events and competition was awarded to a worthy Harry McGill.

The Valuable Volunteer Award went to Peter Condon. 

A club like Nowra Athletics cannot succeed without the tremendous support of volunteers and Peter was recognised for his valuable and reliable assistance throughout the season.

The Neville Markham Distance Runner of the Year Award went to Damian Smith who continually proves himself to be an outstanding and devoted distance runner competing in numerous distance events both locally and further afield.  

The final presentations of the night were the High Achievement Awards, awarded to athletes for their high performance over the last 12 months. 

The junior recipient was Samantha Peace. 

Samantha’s gold medal discus throw at the Australian Junior Championships was also a personal best by a massive three metres. 

Samantha is a committed young athlete consistently achieving great results at local, state and national level and was a well deserved winner of this special award. 

The Senior High Achievement Award went to veteran athlete Cristine Suffolk. Crissy is another dedicated distance runner who can often be seen training around the hills of Willandra and the local area. 

Crissy was the eight kilometre cross country bronze medalist from the 2013 World Masters Athletics Championships held recently in Brazil. 

Congratulations to everyone who participated at Nowra Athletics and the committee looks forward to another successful year.