2020 Club Award winners - Margaret Beardslee and UTS Norths

6 May 2020

2020 Club Award winners - Margaret Beardslee and UTS Norths

With the cancellation of the 2020 Athletics NSW awards, over the next month we will announce the winners on the website and in social media.

Mingara club’s Margaret Beardslee and UTS Norths have won the top Athletics NSW club awards for 2020. The sport in NSW is fortunate to have many hard-working club administrators. Often they go unrecognised as they burn the midnight candle organising everything from finances to registrations, uniforms, awards, publicity competitions and relay teams.

CLUB ADMINISTRATOR

Before becoming a leading club administrator with Mingara club, Margaret Beardslee was a talented young distance runner. In her early 20s she registered with Randwick Botany club and later Athletics Easts. After winning dozens of state medals in 1999, representing Tuggerah, she won the NSW short course cross country held at Nowra. By this stage she was already working in club administration including in 1997 forming Mingara (previously Tuggerah) Athletics Club. Over the next two decades she has held all the key committee positions.

Beardslee and the club hosted the 2004 and 2005 NSW Short Course Cross Country and NSW Road relays since 2012. The logistics for a group of volunteers to host these events, where a thousand athletes compete, are challenging. They have also hosted the NSW Country Championships.

The club under Beardslee and her committee’s guidance is as strong on the track and in the field; this year winning the winter club of the year. The club, which will host the 2021 NSW Country Championships, has a synthetic track, thanks to the Central Coast committee chaired by Beardslee.

CHAMPION CLUB OF THE YEAR

This was a very close battle. In recent years, Sydney University, on the strength of their number of athletes on national teams, were a comfortable winner, but in 2019/20, UTS Norths have not just challenged them, but claimed the title.

We considered three areas to split the strong clubs. In the national team representation tally at the World Championships, World Para-Athletics Championships, World University Games and Global Games, UTS Norths were slightly ahead with one more athlete in the green and gold.

The clubs were generally equal in the Winter Trophy and number of open championships, but UTS Norths streaked ahead in the Treloar Shield and number of Club Championship winning divisions. A final examination of officials provided, hosting of meets and number of registered members (UTN 403, SYU 134), sealed the victory for UTS Norths.

COUNTRY CLUB OF THE YEAR

Mingara were overwelmingly the country club of the year. They won the country championships point score and were the leading country club (and an outstanding third overall) in the winter premiership. In the Treloar Shield, they placed 11th and were the leading country club. They were also prominent at the Club Championships in December, where they won the women’s 50 years, men’s 40 years and placed third in the open women.

CLUB DEVELOPMENT AWARD

This is awarded to Bansktown Sports Athletics club for their leadership move in launching ‘One Club’ at the commencement of 2019/20 season. They opened a Little Athletics affiliated club and worked collaborative as one club, rather than a senior and Little Athletics centre. They have shown full commitment to ensuring athletes were able to see a single pathway from junior to senior years in the sport totally alligned with the goal of athletics in Australia of #OneSport.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Margaret Beardslee - Administrator of the year (image courtesy of David Tarbotton)