The Capilano Blues were golden as the best and brightest local athletes came together for the North Shore Sport Awards held March 28 at the West Vancouver Community Centre.
The Capilano University men’s soccer team, provincial champs for the second year in a row and 2016 national bronze medal winners, were named the North Shore’s Team of the Year while bench boss Paul Dailly claimed Coach of the Year status at the annual award show.
Other marquee winners included rock star Sean McColl, a world champion climber, and skiing/cycling sensation Georgia Simmerling who took home the awards for top male and female athletes. Soccer star Caitlin Shaw, a fixture on the national U17 team, was named top youth female while the top youth male award went to Brendan Artley who claimed high school provincial gold medals in basketball, tennis and javelin last year.
Four-time Olympian Nikola Girke earned the Spirit of Sport award in recognition of a career that saw her compete in three different sailing disciplines at the Summer Games, as well as her volunteer work with numerous humanitarian campaigns such as KidSport, Fast and Female, and Athletes Against Bullying. The Quinn Keast Foundation was honoured for its exemplary work in the provincial basketball community while ultra-marathoner Gary Robbins was given an Outstanding Athletic Acheivement Award for his incredible effort in The Barkley Marathons.
Longtime North Shore stalwarts Joe Iacobellis, Al Rose and Frank Kurucz were also recognized for their lifetime contributions to sport. Other winners included Nathan Clement in the para-athlete of the year; Patrick Li as top official; Nick Rutledge with the comeback award; Deborah Lee and Don Vaughan as the top masters athletes; Graham Shanks as the top community sport volunteer; and Jonathan Horne, Hayley Mann, and Keegan O'Connor with youth leadership awards.
