Adam Hall Wins Central Otago Sportsman of the Year Award

Queenstown, New Zealand (6 April 2013) - New Zealand ski racer Adam Hall was named Senior Sportsman of the Year at the Central Otago Sports Awards in Queenstown last night.

Hall, who was diagnosed at birth with spina bifida, is an adaptive skier and has represented New Zealand twice at the Paralympic Winter Games, winning a gold medal in slalom at the Vancouver Games in 2010. He is aiming to represent his country at the Sochi Games in March 2014 and has recently enjoyed a successful season of training and competing in the northern hemisphere. Hall achieved a total of eight podium finishes over the course of the demanding five month season, competing on the Nor-Am and World Cup circuits. 

"I am extremely happy to be recognised amongst such a strong field of high calibre athletes within the Central Otago region," says Hall. "Last season was my most successful season to date outside my gold medal at the Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver. This next season is very important for my build-up towards the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia which I am super excited for and I know there is a lot of work to be done."

Hall went on to congratulate all the winners and nominees of the Central Otago Sports Awards as well as the sponsors and supporters "for making the awards happen every year and giving the opportunity to show how much talent there is within the Central Otago region."

Hall also gave special thanks to "family, friends, supporters and sponsors for all their ongoing support in helping me compete at the best level I possibly can. Thank you to the Snow Sports NZ Winter Performance Programme, High Performance Sport New Zealand, Paralympics New Zealand, Cardrona Alpine Resort, Hyundai NZ, the Skeggs Foundation, Dynamic Composites and Formthotics."

Snow and Ice sports were well represented at the Central Otago Sports Awards. Wanaka freeskier Beau-James Wells was nominated for the Junior Sportman of the Year award - won by Alexandra track cyclist Liam Aitchison - while Finn Bilous and Jackson Wells were also included in the roll of honour.

The New Zealand men's curling team won the Team of the Year award, with the senior women's curling team also nominated. Skeleton racer Katharine Eustace was nominated for the Sportswoman of the Year award which went to Olympic triathlete Nicky Samuels. Samuels was named Supreme Winner at the Central Otago Sports Awards.

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