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Service to the Sport Award

This award was established in 2013 to honour those individuals who have made a significant contribution to the sport, irrespective of duration, that will have positively promoted multisport. The recipients are characterised by dedication and commitment, coupled with good character, that has led to successful achievements that have enhanced public and/or commercial interest in triathlon. The winner of the Service to the Sport award will be announced and presented on an annual basis at the TA Annual Awards Dinner.

 

2022 SERVICE TO THE SPORT AWARD RECIPIENTS

Lori Cameron

Lori Cameron was an early advocate of equality for women in triathlon.

She was voted onto the Women’s Commission at the 1992 ITU Congress and returned as Triathlon Australia Board Member at the 1992 TA AGM. Lori Cameron was President of Triathlon Victoria in 1997-1998, and made significant contribution to the development of women’s triathlon through her roles at State, National and on the ITU Women’s Committee and as an influential leader.

As Chair of the Victorian Committee of Women in Triathlon (VicWit), Cameron worked with TM Leisure to make its third All-Women Triathlon a high-profile affair with television coverage, and a strong field including international guests.

2021 SERVICE TO THE SPORT AWARD RECIPIENTS

Andrew fraser & The bray brothers

Haydon, Damien and Adam Bray, known as The Bray Brothers founded Online Sporting Promotions and staged Australia’s first fully professional triathlon series, and introduced Australians and the world to Triathlon Grand Prix, half a decade later it became known as Formula One Triathlon. 

 

The unique concept attracted top international competitors to Australia. Designed to be fast, exciting, and television and spectator-friendly, Formula One racing featured short, innovative courses and four different formats: the Enduro; the Triple or Double Super Sprint; the Eliminator, and the Classic.

Andrew Fraser,  the brains behind the media relations which brought great exposure to the sport through the ground breaking series. As the Project Director for the Australian Triathlon Series from 1993 – 2003, Andrew staged over 50 professional triathlon races for television broadcast in the period 1994-2002. Beyond his media involvement, Andrew Fraser showed a commitment to supporting the athletes far beyond his media duties during his time working across the Series. 

 

2020 SERVICE TO THE SPORT AWARD RECIPIENTS

Aileen Southwell

Aileen Southwell’s chief contribution to the sport lies in the field of triathlon media. She reported on many, many triathlons around Australia and abroad. But she also contributed to the sport through her particular efforts to bring attention to promising athletes, and to age group athletes as the foundation of the sport. 

Ken Baggs describes Aileen Southwell as ‘a grand no nonsense lady’.

Aileen Southwell was the mother of talented triathletes Tony and Chris Southwell, whose names often appeared near the pointy end of the field in early triathlons but who were more often recognised for their larrikin behaviour, as well as younger brothers John, Paul, and Steve, and Wife of senior Ironman age group world champion Bob Southwell. But Aileen’s contributions to the sport are independent of her connection to what Greg Welch referred to as ‘Australia’s first family’ of triathlon. 

Aileen Southwell wrote for and edited Australia’s first triathlon magazine, Triathlon Sports. She authored a large number of detailed and thoughtful reports about triathlons and triathletes for close to a decade before her passing in 1995. Southwell made it a personal mission to include age group stories in the magazine, recognising the importance of age group triathletes to the sport as a whole. She also reported on the evolving structures of the sport, providing a blow by blow account of the 1992 Triathlon Australia AGM, for example, reflecting earnestly on the direction of the sport at key moments in time. 

John Holt

John Holt contributed to the sport of triathlon as founding President of one of Australia’s first triathlon clubs, as founder of a number of race series including one of Australia’s longest running race series, as founding member of Triathlon New South Wales, and for his work in triathlon media, in securing sponsorships for athletes and races, and as an athlete in his own right. 

A well known sporting figure from Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, John Holt displayed sporting talent as a school student. He reportedly contested the Australian Olympic Swim Trials at the age of seventeen. From the age of sixteen he also showed talent in 800m and 1500m running events, was a key member of successful school water polo and rugby league teams, and competed in surf events as a member of the Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club. After he finished school Holt studied a Bachelor of Surveying, but at the same time embarked on an extremely successful surf life saving sports track record. During the decade from 1969-79 he competed in well over 100 surf iron man races, missing out on a podium finish in less than 10% of them, winning both the World Iron Man Championships and Australian championships twice. Opening a long running Cronulla-based business in 1979 Holt retired from competitive surf iron man, but couldn’t resist giving triathlon a go. He competed in triathlons for four years from 1983, finishing second in his first attempt at the sport – the Sutherland Shire Tri-Marathon. His triathlon career culminated in an exceptional performance as a Masters athlete at the World Sprint Triathlon Championships held in Perth in January 1987. There he exited the water close behind race leader Ric Wells and well ahead of triathlon’s ‘big four’.

John Holt quickly shifted from a competitive interest in triathlon to a broader interest in the future of the fledgling sport. Holt was central to a grass roots conversation in the area about the need for a triathlon club. The Cronulla Triathlon Club formally registered in 1985 with Holt as its President. Holt helped to secure early sponsorship for the club from a local real estate agent, and established the ‘Titans Endurance Sports Team’ featuring seven local triathletes from a surf life saving background. 

Barry and Julie Voevodin

Barry and Julie Voevodin, as a team, contributed in a variety of ways to the foundations of triathlon in Queensland, Australia, and the world. Known best for the standard they set in race organisation, they also published a magazine, and sponsored key Australian athletes, including Miles Stewart.
A participant in the first open triathlon in Queensland, the 1982 Sri Chinmoy Triathlon on the Gold Coast, art teacher Barry Voevodin and his wife, Julie, staged, the first Gold Coast Triathlon in 1983. Run in pouring rain and replete with comedic errors, the event marked the beginning of an era in Australian triathlon with implications for the evolution of the sport itself and its acquisition of Olympic status. 

The Voevodins quickly expanded the raft of triathlons they offered on the Gold Coast, with triathlons targeted to novices, women and children. Taking the concept of triathlon beyond the practicalities of funnelling competitors through swim, cycle and run courses, the Voevodins turned triathlons into complete experiences. They first staged the Great Race Triathlon at the Pacific Fair shopping centre on the Gold Coast in 1986 and secured enough sponsorship money to fly out Mark Allen. It was staged the day before the inaugural meeting of Tri-Fed Australia (TA), which was held in one of the Pacific Fair management offices. In 1987 the Great Race was recognised as the Australian long course championships. In 1988, with major Japanese sponsorship, they held the Daikyo World Cup Triathlon. They flew around the world and offered appearance fees as well as large chunks of prize money to all the world’s best triathletes, most of whom took the bait. The World Cup survived until 1994. It is judged by Scott Tinley, Dave Scott and Mark Allen as one of the most significant and land mark events in the world, triathlon journalist Mike Plant included it with Nice and Hawaii as one of the top three triathlons in the world. It was international in appeal, but also provided a great experience for Australian age groupers, with kit bags, memorable T-shirts, lavish awards banquets, and elaborate transition set ups designed to create genuine and emotive interaction between the athletes and spectators. 

The Voevodins also published a magazine, Multisport Magazine for a number of years, and used the magazine to present promising triathletes (particularly from south east Queensland) and their events, but they also reported on and evaluated triathlons around Australia, and for a few years promoted a national triathlon series. Barry Voevodin was also present at the founding meeting of the ITU, not as a voting member, but as a representative of a newly formed international Multi-Sport Race Director’s Association. He was appointed to first Technical Committee once the ITU was established and he and Julie served at the first world championships at Avignon in 1989 as Technical Officials. 

In 1991, the Voevodins were contracted by Triathlon Australia to organise the third ITU Triathlon World Championships, held on the Gold Coast. Together with Barry Hawkins, Barry Voevodin trained up enough Technical Officials to effectively run the event. During race week, Julie Voevodin was a constant presence at the race venue to respond to questions and deal with any difficulties encountered by athletes and officials. The Voevodins developed a multi-lap course with a large grand stand that flanked the transition area and its access shutes and the finish line. Nick-named ‘Thunder Alley’, it proved the perfect backdrop when Gold Coast youth Miles Stewart sprinted to victory on race day. The world championships were a spectacular event and impressed athletes from Australia and abroad, as well as the IOC representatives in attendance. While the Voevodins conflicted with the ITU over their desire to continue using the label of ‘World Cup’ for their flagship event, the professionalism of the 1991 world championships represented a significant step forward from the events staged in 1989 and 1990, and helped to foster a positive impression of the possibilities of triathlon as an Olympic sport.

2019 sERVICE TO THE SPORT AWARD RECIPIENTS

Bill Davoren

Bill Davoren was the architect of Australia’s most successful Olympic Games and presided over a period of extraordinary success in Australian triathlon that has never been replicated.

A personal coach to the likes of Craig Walton and Brad Kahlefeldt, it was his time as head of the Triathlon Australia High Performance program that is particularly memorable.

During this time Davoren helped change the face of triathlon in Australia, introducing a new professionalism and modernising the way athletes trained and performed.

When the Walton-coached Emma Snowsill won Australia’s first Olympic gold and Emma Moffatt a bronze at the Beijing Games in 2008, he presided over the program. 

He also guided Australia through Athens Olympics in 2004, another successful campaign that saw Loretta Harrop win silver.

Under his directorship from 2002, Australia won multiple women’s world championship gold medals, had Commonwealth Games success and was ranked the No.1 triathlon nation in the world.

Highlights under Bill Davoren’s reign.

2003, Loretta Harrop claimed silver at the Athens Olympics.
2005 world championships - women’s Gold and Silver and men’s Gold and Bronze In 2005 Bill pioneered the Elite and Long Distance Coach of the Year Awards and set up elite awards.
Success continued at the 2006 Commonwealth Games: Gold to Brad Kahlefeldt and EMMA Snowsill, bronze to Peter Roberson.
Beijing Olympics: Emma Snowsill gold and bronze medals.
Assistant National Coach in 2001
Appointed TA HP Director late 2002

Warwick Brennan

Warwick Brennan served as founding and long-serving Race Director for the iconic Nepean Triathlon, serving in that role for 35 years. He was also a competitor, representing Australia as an age grouper at ITU and Ironman world championships. He was a founding member of Panther’s Triathlon Club, a qualified Technical Official and Race Director for a variety of other local and national races.

John Hickey 

There’s not a lot John Hickey hasn’t done, been involved in or worked on in triathlon over his long career in the sport or He has coached for over 35 years at a country, state and national level and given generously if his time in various roles.

As a competitor he amassed four age group world gold and six silver medals.

Founder of the Gunnedah Cycling and Triathlon Club, was the only NSW coach to be awarded the coveted Blue Award for his services to the NSW All Schools.

He established the NSW Pro Tour to develop performance athletes skills and developed a Junior Development Program for Triathlon 

Between 2014 -2016 John moved to Ngukurr an aboriginal community in East Arnham Land where he established the first ever All Indigenous Triathlon.

2018 SERVICE TO THE SPORT AWARD RECIPIENTS

NICHOLAS MUNTING

He was triathlons biggest fan - a former motor journalist whose passion for the sport saw him watch it, promote it, back it and eventually help run it.

The late Nick Munting's contribution to the sport is as enormous as his personality - still missed by those who knew him.

Munting contributed to the development of the sport as an event and race series promoter, race director, journalist and pioneer of online triathlon event reporting.

He was also a long-serving member of Triathlon New South Wales - and former president and life member - securing key sponsorships and bringing international events and key race series to Australia. 

When Munting passed away in his sleep on June 6, 2017, aged 66, the sport lost one of its greats and one of its most colourful characters. 

But his initial introduction to the sport was by accident - he just happened to see a race in 1985 which was a precursor to Ironman Australia.

As National Marketing Manager for Daihatsu, Munting organised sponsorship of the national series and was involved in early moves to establish a professional triathlon series, offering marketing and administrative support to the Australian Professional Triathlete Association when it was established in 1993. When IMG became involved in Ironman Australia in 1994, Graeme Hannan appointed Munting as media manager.

While helping promote the Sport with his generous assistance to journalists, he also became a global pioneer of online triathlon reporting as part of the first live online coverage of Ironman Australia.

He became a major player with IronmanLive, providing coverage of 12 to 13 events a year.
From the 1990s, race directing increasingly became a key aspect of his contribution to the sport.
A high point of Munting career in this role  - which involved X-Tri events, biathlons, half ironmans, ironmans and Oceania titles -  was the 2006 Australian ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championship. 

In a testament to his extraordinary dedication and love for the Sport, Munting put together a bid for the World Championships, funded himself to travel to Vancouver to lobby the ITU, secured the race, and then ran it on a very limited budget.

Munting has left an extraordinary legacy to the sport of triathlon - both locally and internationally. 
 

2017 Service to the sport award recipients

GEOFF FROST

Geoff Frost was a key player in laying triathlon’s organisational foundations in Australia and played a part in establishing an international governing body for triathlon and securing the sport’s recognition as an Olympic sport.

Frost was a founding member of his club, his state in 1984, was vice president and president of the national federation and then Secretary-General of the International Federation in 1989 at Avignon, France. 

Other accomplishments included managing Australia’s first national team at the inaugural ITU Triathlon World Championships, securing TA's first government grant, first commercial sponsorship in Cadbury and helped acquire, and headed the Organising Committee for Australia’s first World championship.

He also led a working group to produce a Strategic Plan in 1987 as the template for our current national and international development, opened up our partnership with the ASC and AIS and laid the foundations of a junior development program.

GRAEME HANNAN

Racer, event manager, race organiser, volunteer. You name a job and Graeme Hannan has probably done it. Hannon's passion for the sport of triathlon - especially distance events - has known few bounds.

Instrumental in establishing and introducing numerous races to Australia over the last few decades, he has been involved at just about every level of the sport, from competing in events, athlete management, race organisation and event management.

In 2000 Hannon was also the voluntary team manager of the first ever Australian triathlon team to compete at an Olympic Games and worked closely with the AOC. Hannon worked with WTC to instigate Ironman Malaysia, Ironman Japan and Ironman Korea. 

During his time with IMG, he helped establish Ironman Australia in Forster as one if the great sporting events in the country and formulated the Half Ironman qualifying series in Australia.

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2016 Service to the Sport Recipients