Last weekend was a big one for Lake Macquarie athlete Erin Cleaver, who was confirmed as a member of the Australian athletics team for the upcoming Commonwealth Games and also named Lake Macquarie Sports Person of the Year.
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Winning our city’s most prestigious sports award is an outstanding achievement on a number of levels. Firstly, Erin is just 18, yet has already represented her country in elite competition. Also, Erin has cerebral palsy and is the first athlete with a disability to receive the Sports Person of the Year Award, a ground-breaking and remarkable accomplishment.
Erin, who also won the Scholarship for Athletes with a Disability Award at the Lake Macquarie sports Awards, is a 2016 Rio Paralympian and last year competed successfully in state, national and international arenas, winning a national gold medal for long jump and silver at the International Paralympic Committee World Championships in London.
Other sportspeople honoured on the night were Ashlyn Blackstock (athletics, Junior Female Sportsperson of the Year), Anna Nikishina (ice skating, Junior Female Encouragement Award), Kayne Gilmore (basketball and athletics, Junior Male), Angus Abbo (hockey, water polo, Junior Male Encouragement), Tim Lang (triathlon, Masters). Kaitlyn Klein (Athletics, Fair Play Award) and Stephen Woodbridge (rugby league, Norm Johnson Memorial Administrator of the Year).
