2019 Year in Review - Sport

About Regional’s 2019 Year in Review series takes a look back at some of the most popular stories over the last 12 months. To kick things off, we’re recapping the year in sport – from a talented Cobargo footballer making her State of Origin debut to the development of the Mogo Adventure Trail to the day that big city sport came to the country.

We met up-and-coming stars, reported on grassroots events that brought communities together, and showcased the achievements of individuals and teams from the region. Here’s a look back at the sporting year that was.

10. Local women save Sapphire Coast AFL, off the sideline and on the field
by Elka Wood

Women and girls have always been a part of our local AFL clubs, says Tathra Sea Eagles co-president Cymmon Parker.

“Organizing, transporting, working behind the scenes but now we’re on the field too and taking a leadership role. We’ve actually overtaken the men’s teams – there are eight women’s teams along the south coast and five men’s teams!”

And the addition of women’s teams in 2016 has saved the sport locally, according to Cymmon.

9. From country Braidwood to Capital Football’s Player of the Year – Isabella Hindmarsh
by Alex Rea

Fourteen-year-old Isabella Hindmarsh from rural Braidwood is Capital Football’s NPL Women’s Under 15 Player of the 2019. Here’s a recap of what we wrote about the talented athlete, who started her soccer career with Braidwood Junior Soccer Club and quickly showed how adept she was on the field.

8. Gareth Rees ‘King of the Mountain’ at Cooma Hill Climb
by Ian Campbell

Thanks to rising air temperature and a warm track, there was some very close racing at this year’s Mount Gladstone Hill Climb in Cooma, we reported in March. Cooma Car Club noted steadily improving times over the day with organisers able to accommodate a total of 6 runs of the 1 kilometre track for most drivers despite two track incidents. Here’s more about the action-packed day, which saw Gareth Rees named King of the Mountain.

7. John Bateman’s Bay: The Englishman quickly becoming a Raiders cult figure
by Lachlan Roberts

John Bateman admitted he had to laugh when his mate sent him a screenshot of the online petition calling to change the name of a small picturesque town on the NSW South Coast in his honour. It was the work of a couple of die-hard Bateman fans, who called for Batemans Bay to be renamed John Batemans Bay in honour of the Raiders second-rower.

6. National shooting event comes to Cooma, braves wild Snowy weather
by Contributor

Cooma was the scene of a major national sporting event when competitors from all over Australia and New Zealand competing in the three day Sporting Clays Nationals in October. The Cooma Sporting Clays club range is located in a stunning high-altitude location, set amongst snow gums, and President Andrew Fairfield Smith says it was an unbelievable event, despite the wild weather that whipped through the region during the competition.

5. Former Bega High student Ellie Seckold finds success in ‘ultimate’ sport
by Elka Wood

In January, we met Ellie Seckold, whose years of throwing javelin and playing netball, basketball and “a bit of touch footy” led her to her favourite sport – Ultimate Frisbee. Seckold played for Australia in the Ultimate championships in Royan, France in 2017, where her team was awarded a bronze medal. She was also been selected to play in the European Championships, held in Portugal in May this year, followed closely by the Asia Oceanic Championships in Japan in June.

4. Tanja’s Indigo Conroy takes gold at National Gymnastics Championships
by Elka Wood

What do you do when you’ve sent one of your teammates flying into the air and when you look up, instead of flying gracefully through the air, she is tumbling towards your face like a sack of potatoes? Do you try to catch her or get out of her way? According to up-and-coming acrobatic gymnast Indigo Conroy, who is originally from Tanja in the Bega Valley, you try and catch her, even if it means getting hurt yourself.

3. Ash Barty’s regional connections: the Ngarigo woman following Evonne Goolagong’s footsteps
by Genevieve Jacobs

As Australians everywhere celebrated a cool, calm and collected but absolutely thrilling French Open win for Ash Barty in 2019, many commentators noted that she is the second Aboriginal woman to win a Grand Slam title, following in the footsteps of Evonne Goolagong.

But few have realised that Barty, in fact, has a connection with southeastern NSW and the High Country stretching through to Gippsland. Through her father, she claims Ngarigo ancestry from the people of the Monaro and High Plains and has spoken about valuing and re-connecting with her heritage.

2. The Knight on the Kings Highway – connecting periods in time
by Alex Rea

Along the Kings Highway near the Clyde Mountain, Darrell and Lisa manage Black Flat Friesians. But they also use the property for something quite different – medieval horseback skills training, which is definitely not a sport for the faint-hearted. So if you’ve ever wanted to give jousting a go, here’s what you need to know.

1. Broulee’s Jaylah Hancock-Cameron sets sights on world champs in Kenya
by Elka Wood

If you spot a long-legged figure running on Broulee’s beaches and backroads, it’s likely to be 17-year-old Moruya High School student Jaylah Hancock-Cameron, we wrote in September. Those roads and trails are part of her 7 km training route, which she does six days a week, every week.

As she passes, you might not guess that this Eurobodalla runner is ranked second in the world for under 18-year-olds in the 1500 metre event and has aspirations to compete at the World Junior Track Championships to be held in Kenya next June.

“She’s a very humble girl,” Jaylah’s coach Anda’e Kalemusic, of Limitless Track Team, says. “You’d never know when you meet her that she was the only non-African on the podium last year in Argentina for the Olympic Youth Medal. She’s won so many comps we can’t keep track.”

Join us again tomorrow as we reveal the top community stories that had you talking in 2019.