Twenty-one athletes and one team have been recognised for their sporting achievements at the 11th annual Dubbo Sports Awards at Dubbo RSL on Tuesday night.
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All the athletes who were presented with awards represented at a state level or higher, including cyclist Andrew Taylor, who claimed two national titles in cycling earlier this year.
The team achievement award was given to the North Dubbo Public PSSA Hockey team, while the John McGrath Individual Contribution award was taken out by Courtney Granger for her work in netball. That award was presented by John's wife Nita McGrath.
Twelve members of the Dubbo indoor cricket fraternity were recognised for being selected in various state teams. The sports awards are a joint presentation between the Dubbo City Sports Council (DCSC) and Member for Parkes Mark Coulton.
DCSC president Craig Gale said it was a successful night and he was very happy with the calibre of recipients.
"It was a really good night. It was well supported and there were a lot of very deserving winners on the stage," he said.
"They are slightly different to other awards because you don't have to have won something to be included. Our criteria is having been selected and competed at a state, national or international level," he said.
"It doesn't matter if you win or come last. We like to recognise the effort that it takes to reach such a high level."
Gale said it is important to recognise the rich sporting talent that Dubbo produces and awards nights were an effective way of providing encouragement.
"We have been very lucky here. You have someone like Andrew Taylor, who has received awards as a junior, coming back after what he has achieved and prior to him we had Megan Dunn, who is now a Commonwealth medallist," he said.
"In other sports we have had Andrew Ryan, David Peachey and the Sykes girls, Ashleigh and Nicole, just to name a few."
Parkes MP Mark Coulton congratulated everyone who was presented with an award.
"There is a wealth of sporting talent in Dubbo and the variety of sports that have been recognised is a testament to the community. We have high achievers in everything from netball and touch football, to cycling and rugby league," Coulton said.
"I would like to thank Dubbo City Sports Council and especially Geoff Mann for helping to organise this event in recognition of the outstanding efforts of Dubbo's most talented sports people of 2013."