MICHAEL Sharp never considered winning awards when he took on a volunteer role with the Orange Runners Club.
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Yesterday, Sharp was announced as the Central West Volunteer Summer Sporting Spirit Award inaugural winner.
The award has been set up by the Office of Communities - Sport and Recreation to acknowledge the work of the region’s sporting volunteers.
Sharp said he felt humbled by the award because there were other volunteers within the Orange Runners Club.
He has been a member of the club since 1978 and is the handicapper, database administrator and chief timekeeper.
It means he often doesn’t get to run because he is fulfilling his volunteer roles.
That doesn’t worry him.
“It combines my two interests - running and computers,” Sharp smiled.
“I enjoy the company of the other runners. I’ve made a lot of friends. There are a lot of inspirational people in the club.”
Sharp still gets a run in each week and is hoping to complete this year’s City2Surf.
Two more Orange volunteers were named runners-up in the award.
Orange Bush Nippers founders John Collins and Yvonne “Toot” Keegan were acknowledged for the work they have done in setting up the club and helping it grow over the last seven years.
“We do it because we love it,” Keegan said.
“We were walking through the park one day and said we should do bush nippers. We started with basically our own families. There were about 12 kids. Now we’ve got about 100.”
Collins said they took great satisfaction out of seeing the children improve and grow in confidence each week.
Anita Morrison, from Forbes Little Athletics and Forbes Touch Football, was another runner-up for the Central West award.
Each winner received a voucher to spend on an Office of Communities sports development program.
Office of Communities - Sport and Recreation acting regional manager Bron Colman said recognising volunteers in sport was important.
“Because without them local sport wouldn’t happen,” Colman said.
There were 27 nominations for the summer award and they were judged by an independent panel.
A winter volunteers’ award will also be presented this year.
Nominations open on October 8 and close on November 8.
Nomination forms and more information about the awards are available on the Office of Communities - Sport and Recreation website at www.dsr.nsw.gov.au/volunteeraward or by visiting the Orange office on the corner of Byng and McNamara streets.
