Top sportspeople honoured

Sammie Maxwell in action during the UCI World Series.

Taupō’s annual sports awards had everything from rodeo bull riding to kart racing and karate.

Taking out the Sportsperson of the Year was Sammie Maxwell who has been taking the world of mountain biking by storm this year.

Vivien Andrews, secretary of the Lake Taupō Sports Advisory Council says various grants and scholarships were also awarded to 10 outstanding, up-and-coming young athletes across a variety of sports including rodeo bull riding, clay target shooting, triathlon, kart racing, karate and triathlon.

The theme of the event this year was Women in Sport. MC and guest speaker was Michelle Hollands, CEO of New Zealand Hockey, former Olympian and 99-test NZ Black Sticks player.

Some 48 nominations were supported by 220 people on the awards night.

Judges found it challenging with the high calibre of nominees, hence the awards for highly commended in a number of categories.

Five local sports clubs made a video presentation showcasing their highlights throughout the year – Great Lake Taupō Hockey, Taupō Athletics, TriSport Taupō, Taupō Squash (Junior Development Squad) andTaupō Mountain Bike Club

Results

Sportsperson of the Year (Secondary Female): Alex Milne (Road Cycling) and Brooke Atkinson (Rodeo).

Sportsperson of the Year (Secondary Male): Hunter Rigby - Clay Target Shooting and Lachlan Tombleson (kart racing) was highly commended.

Hunter is the New Zealand Secondary Schools National Champion in Single Barrel Clay Shooting, gaining 1st place out of 301 competitors. He was also the Junior National Winner - NZ Ball Trap Champion at the DTL Nationals. He will now represent NZ at the World Championships in Christchurch next year. He has also placed in a number of regional and provincial events. Judges say “Hunter is a fine example of a young athlete with outstanding talent who has been able to achieve so much in a short space of time and who’s dream is to become a World Champion.”

Sportsperson of the Year (Adult): Sammie Maxwell - Mountain Biking and highly commended were Lisa Bell and Coen Nicol - Karate & Mountain Biking.

Maxwell became the first New Zealander to win a UCI World Series title last month.

The 23-year-old clinched the Mountain bike cross country title with a second-place finish in the 10th and final round in Canada.

During the season, Maxwell had five wins and stood on the podium nine times.

She finished 91 points clear of Rissveds and a whopping 451-point advantage over Alessandra Keller of Switzerland, who finished third overall.

Team of the Year (Secondary): Taupō U16 Boys Basketball and highly commended were Taupō-nui-a-Tia double sculls rowing.

Team of the Year (Adult): Taupō AFC Mens 1st XI – Football

Coach of the Year: Ray How – Cricket and highly commended was Cameron Paul - TriSport

Club Contributor of the Year: Howard Jones – Basketball and highly commended was Lilly Craggs - Hockey

Outstanding Contribution to Sport: Mark Willis – Karate and Wayne Reardon – Ironman.

Ty Blake received a grant for his bull riding efforts.

Ty is the New Zealand Novice Bull Riding 2025 Champion and placed 3rd overall in the Junior All-Round Cowboy category.

Ty represented New Zealand in Bull Riding as Vice-Captain of the of the New Zealand Youth Rodeo team which competed at the Tri- nations Challenge Rodeo in Australia. He also received a Lake Taupo Sports Foundation grant for the second year running

Leah Kilmister received a Lake Taupō Sport Foundation $5000 Scholarship.

Leah is the current U20 National Champion -  Womens Xterra Long Course (mountain biking), qualifying for two prestigious global events – the 2026 World Xterra Champs in Italy and the World Duathlon Championships in Abu Dhabi.

The evening finished off with the presentation of two awards for Outstanding Contribution to Sport received by Mark Willis for TKSF Karate and Wayne Reardon for dedication to Ironman Taupō.

The event was supported by major Sponsors The Gary Ramsay Charitable Trust, BFA Business Advisors and Accountants, with local businesses supporting each category.