It is the third time athletes and animals have been inducted into the Shoalhaven Hall of Fame, with a further 12 inductees announced at the official ceremony at Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre.

The evening was tinged with sadness with Shoalhaven Mayor Joanna Gash honouring the passing of cricketer Phillip Hughes. 

The Sporting Hall of Fame was established in 2000 to recognise the outstanding achievements of Shoalhaven-based elite athletes, sporting heroes and animals. 

Nine inductees were named in the Shoalhaven Elite Athlete, two in the Shoalhaven Sporting Hero category and one in the Shoalhaven Sporting Animal section.

Inducted into the Shoalhaven Elite Athlete were John McLean (cycling), Cristine Suffolk (athletics), Luke O’Donnell (rugby league), Ashleigh Hewson (football and rugby union), Josh Sanders (wakeboarding), Peter Gilford (tennis and athletics), Blake Nolan (judo), Adam Federici (football) and Phil Lynch (basketball).

Shoalhaven Sporting Hero inductees were Toby Bice (cricket) and Bruce Fagan (judo).

Champion greyhound Paua to Burn was inducted into the Shoalhaven Sporting Animal category.

Cr Gash congratulated the inductees, saying they had joined an elite group of athletes.

“The Shoalhaven has the reputation of producing high-quality, talented sports people,” she said.

“The latest inductees have all performed at the highest level. They have risen above the odds to carve out careers and are an inspiration to the community.”

Special guest on the evening was Paralympian athlete and world champion water-skier Scott Reardon, who gave an inspirational account of his journey from overcoming losing his leg in a farming accident as a 12-year-old to representing Australia three times at the Water-Skiing World Champ-ionships, winning the world title twice in 2007 and 2009, through to competing at the London Games on the track, where he won silver in the 100m.