As one season came to the end with a huge celebration at the Sandown Greyhound Racing Club in late January with the following acknowledgments and presentations of awards.
The Coursing Greyhound of the Year for the 2024 season. The undisputed King of the Course, James Hamilton’s Bernardo Beast took out this award. The Beast who coursed 15 times during the season remains unbeaten. Along the way and at our final meeting he etched his name on the perpetual Waterloo Cup Trophy. Scary but true, James has given us the heads up for the 2025 season, all being well, Bernardo Beast will be back for another tilt at the coursing caper.
The Coursing Bitch of the Year was a young puppy bitch who raced for the Nicole Lummas/Jason Whybrow team, with a little help from team Collyer in Murray, along the way. Nicole was quite emotional in her acceptance speech and that speaks volumes of her love for her team of hounds.
Our Coursing Trainer of the Year this season saw someone who we often see at the Longwood Coursing Club and it was great to see someone who brings a team to these coursing meetings and has done so for several years. Emma Scott took out the award for the 2024 season and we know team Scott will certainly be back for the 2024 season.
And so, we come to our final 2024 coursing specific award, the Coursing Owner of the Year. This 2024 season where we saw two owners with equal on points at the end of the coursing season. SMKN Syndicate headed by Sean and Mel Lithgow and Ray Borda were tied and could not be separated. Several of Ray’s greyhounds were trained by Emma Scott.
That leads us to the acknowledgement of other types of awards. Awards where your contribution to our industry is acknowledged and appreciation is shown. You need to go over and beyond to take home one of these awards.
The Encouragement Award was also a shared award between two people that assisted our industry and did themselves, their families and our industry proud.
Aiden Nooy who stepped up in coursing’s hour of need to learn the craft of slipping. Whereby under the tutelage of John Clay, Aiden as they say in the classics, took to it (slipping) like a duck to water.
And Kayden Walter who also took charge of the reins or should that be leads but in a different way. He fulfilled the role of retrieving greyhounds from the catching pen and assisting trainers with their charges both before and after each course.
We congratulate them both on their accomplishments.
Finally, we come to our most prestigious award, the Noel Banks Medal. This year as we alluded to at the awards night, it was a secret within a secret. The executive vote on the nominees from coursing clubs and upon a decision they are sworn to secrecy. The executive did that, but they had to keep their own President, Peter Craig, out of the loop as unbeknownst to him he was the recipient. Peter has been the president of the NCAV for 10+ years and through this time there have been many ups and downs for the NCAV. However, Peter has a very long association and guided coursing throughout. Peter has coursing running through his veins and has been there for the long-haul. He’s graced the current coursing club’s facilities along with many of the no longer viable coursing clubs for eons. He has travelled as far afield as Edenhope in the West to Benalla in the North East and of coursing Geelong in the West and Lang Lang to the South East. He has three Waterloo Cups in the cabinet, plus a Derby and a divided Oaks. Not to mention many other cups, memorials and other stakes along his sojourn into coursing. He even has a fine hat won at Longwood many moons ago.
A wonderful night of celebration was had by a pretty happy and cheerful band of coursing followers. Plenty of prizes handed out and organised by Quizmaster Collyer and then some awesome mystery prizes in our raffle. Probably the prize of the night was the cuddling competition. Mel and Sean Lithgow brought their twin boys Riley and Austin along. Great to see the next generation of coursing enthusiasts on the horizon!
Thank you one and all of our supporters and we can close the door on twenty twenty-four!
