Our passion for the Waikato means we are keen to support local events and opportunities. If you feel you have an initiative which supports our ‘Clearly Waikato’ vision please contact us.

Monique Williams - Sportswoman of the Year (sponsored by Paterson Burn)

Monique has been sponsored by Paterson Burn for the past few years and has also spent some time working for us! It is fantastic to watch her achievements and be a part of her cheer squad.

Monique is ranked 12th in the world in the 200 metre athletics event after reaching the semi-finals at the world Track & Field championchips in Berlin this year, Monique broke the New Zealand record twice in two days at the event for the same distance. Monique achieved a gold medal in the World University Games in Belgrade and is the Australasian 200 metre women's champion. Monique continues to retain her title of the past 3 years of NZ senior women's 100, 200 and 400 metre champion.

Monique recently  won Sportswoman of the year at the Massey University Harbour Sport and Excellence awards in Auckland recently. This is the first time a sportsperson from Tokoroa has received this award. Congratulations Monique!

23/7/10 Monique is currently in the UK preparing for her Commonwealth Games build up which is coming along nicely. We look forward to regular updates over the next few exciting months for Monique.

Genevieve Baildon - Bowls NZ Representative 2010 Commonwealth Games (sponsored by Paterson Burn)

Eight years ago, as a young Cambridge High School girl, Genevieve Baildon hoisted the National Secondary School Singles title aloft and so began the journey that would eventually lead her to represent her country and wear the black shirt at the Communwealth Games in India later this year.

Along the way Gen has celebrated many successes, with her most memorable being winning the World Junior Cop in 2009. In fact, in her 5 yeears attending the event, Gen has never placed lower than third and has been runner-up three times. Gen's dad Keith passed away when she was 16 and he was the reason for getting into the game. Gen wears his wedding ring on a chain around her neck and before each international match, she kisses it, her personal good luck charm. Gen believes the person who has most influenced her view on life is her mum, "she is such a strong person and I admire the way she tackles whatever life throws her head-on and still comes out with a smile on her face. She is a true inspiration to me."

A sign of how complete a person and athlete Gen is can be best expressed by her greatest off-the-green achievement, which was completing four years of tertiary study while balancing her bowls and international commitments. Gen is a product of Bowls NZ's Highest performance programme and spends around 4 hours on the green in peak training times with competition and more training on the week-ends.

Gen wanted to acknowledge the support of her fellow Hillcrest club members and expressed a heartfelt regret that she isn't able to be involved in her club as much as she'd like, which is as a result of having to work full time as a small animal technician with AgResearch, while maintaining her training and playing commitments.For more information on Genevieve go to www.bowlsnz.co.nz/index

Michael Adern - Waikato Swimmer of the Year (Sponsored by Paterson Burn)

 Michael Ardern was born able bodied but at 5 days old he contracted meningitis. This caused severe swelling of the brain resulting in severe scarring.

 This left Mike with Cerebral palsy and Hemipleagia (paralysis of one side of the body affecting the right hand side of his body. This causes many problems such as spastic paralysis (irregular muscle spasms), which causes muscles to come away from the bone. This also causes the left side of his body to develop much faster and stronger than his right.

Six years ago Mike started swimming in an attempt to strengthen and balance his muscles and connective tissues. Unfortunately this isn't working, Mike is destined for a short career in swimming as his body is slowly destroying itself.

Despite these challenges, Mike is a Paralymipc swimmer and leads a relatively normal life. He curently holds 48 short course records, 28 long course records and is ranked in the top eight Paralympic swimmers in the world.

Mike was nominated for the 2009 Halberg Sportsman of the Year, alongside names such as Daniel Carter, Richie McCaw, Scott Dixon, Daniel Vettori and Tavid Tua.

In April, Mike attended the British International Swimming Championships in Sheffield England, gaining a silver medal in the 100m backstroke. He has recently returned from the BT Paralympic World Cup, which is an invitation only event for the top 8 athletes in each category in the world.

The next step for Mike is the PIC Swimming World championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. We look forward to receiving updates on his achievements later this month.