DAT Awards Night

The BRW World Cup might have been the race of the season not to miss but it was well and truly outclassed by the 2011 DAT Awards Night that seems to grow in glamour and stature as each year goes by.  The Grange Bowls Club again played host and first thanks must go to Roger, Webby and the crew for the venue, the food and of course keeping all those drinks filled to the brim.

And with casino being the theme it was fantastic to see everyone in their finest evening attire, especially the ladies who after copping a fair bit of the mid-week banter were able to, as Sarah Deuble would say, “find inspiration for an outfit on the night,” and match the always classy gentlemen of DAT.  However Nick Curtis received the ‘That’s just not classy’ award for his complete disregard to the dress code.  At the other end of the spectrum was the always classy Tom Ryan, who not only received the best dressed award but also managed to improve on his outfit late into the evening with a bit of bling.

With the tables and chairs filled it was on to the most prestigious part of the evening, the awards.  The first award was presented by Geoff Lemmon who again showed off one of his many talents to produce a marvelous painting of the one and only Dan Atkins for the winner.  And with Bonnie Atherton taking out the DAT Clubperson of the Year she will now have that painting so Dan can keep another set of eyes on her at all times. 

The next award was the most improved and with Mel bringing along the newest DAT member, Lucas Cameron Watt, she presented this award to Nathan Hildebrandt who not only completed his first Ironman but dropped significant weight in the process and improved his Noosa PB by almost 30min in the process and with his ambitions still sky high, look out! 

Not forgetting the junior members of our club, both the Dominator and Junior awards were taken out by some of our rising stars.  Special mention must go to Mark Tucker for the work he did with both of these athletes in the lead up to both the State and National Titles.  Following his outstanding performance at the State Titles where he not only destroyed the field in an impressive first place performance but also earned himself the nickname ‘The Champ,’ Wyatt Westmoreland was named Dominator of the Year and after finishing third in her respective category but then going on to produce an incredibly gutsy and equally impressive performance at the National Titles where she just piped fellow DAT athlete Sophie Malowecki to complete a one-two finish for Queensland, Brittany Dutton was named Junior Athlete of the Year.

We all knew that somewhere in the world there would be an equally important night as the DAT Awards and this year Dave Kelly managed to find it, all the way over in Ireland.  He was of course named our Age Grouper of the Year and with names like Dave Sangster, Dave McDonald, Simon Leeper and Sharron Madders, just to name a few thrown into the mix this is no easy award to walk away with so full credit must go to Dave and his fellow training partners and competitors come race day for making this such a tough award to win.

To present the Atkins Family Award, Katie made her way to the front to once again dazzle the crowd with her ability to produce an inspiring speech no matter what occasion.  I have been on the receiving end of many of these speeches, be it pre-race phone calls or text messages or even a chat after training to remind me what I am capable of and it was a great privilege to be the recipient of this award and I will thoroughly enjoy attending the QLD Roar games this season with either Dan or Katie.

The final award of the night was the Athlete of the Year Award and I couldn’t possibly continue without mentioning the former winners of this award being myself and Ryan Fisher so the winner was always going to be in fine company!  And with the previous winners of the Atkins Family Award also being Ryan Fisher, Brayden Tucker and now myself it completes the double that Brayden Tucker was announced as Athlete of the Year.  Having an outstanding season in the junior elite series and rounding it off with a podium finish in the Oceania Championships in New Zealand and only narrowly missing out on Australian selection it is a well deserved award and there are bright things ahead in the future.

Following the completion of the awards it was time to hit the tables, casino style and gamble the night away.  There were, as always some noteworthy performances.  Wyatt ‘the champ’ Westmoreland taking on the big boys in poker and winning, Angus Gibson and Tom Ryan for keeping those poker faces hidden away like the pros with sunglasses, Cam Watt raking in the chips until that fateful spin on the roulette wheel that cost him dearly while conversely Emily Bevan doubled her money several times after becoming bored and going all in to finish the night as one of the biggest winners.  The gambling ended with a high stakes poker game and walking away with enough petrol vouchers to get her to every training session for a long time was Sam Atherton, so there are no excuses now!

The night didn’t end there and as the crowd started to thin the dance floor began to fill.  We had all be shown the moves required to enter this arena by one of the greatest dancers of the night, Luke Farrell and it was up to those daring enough to try and fill his shoes.  For those select few who stuck it out to the end when last drinks were called there were more than enough impressive dance moves to make the contestants on Dancing With The Stars look like amateurs but the night did have to end and it was at last drinks that those select and dedicated few had to dance our way out of the Grange Bowls Club and into the moonlight.

Of course there was one person still standing by the end and who is yet to be mentioned but he needs at least a paragraph to himself to even begin to thank him enough for not only this night but everything that he does for DAT and that is Craig Buerckner.  This night couldn’t have come together as well as it did without all the hard work that Craig put in to organizing it and although he didn’t officially win an award on the night I think we can all agree that he is more than deserving of any accolades that come his way. 

And that brings about the conclusion of the glitz and glamour that was the 2011 DAT Awards Night and congratulations must once again go out to all of the award winners and everyone involved in making it such an enjoyable and memorable night.

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