It was her first visit to Winnipeg but it is one she will never forget as speed skater Kalyna Roberge was named female athlete of the year on Wednesday night before an appreciative crowd of about 300 at the Garrick Theatre.
Roberge and swimmer Brent Hayden, who was named the male athlete of the year but was unable to attend due to training commitments, were recognized at the 35th annual Canadian Sport Awards presented by True Sport Foundation.
Kalyna Roberge won a gold medal at the 2007 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Italy.
Award winners were chosen based on achievements during the 2007 calendar year.
It was the second of two years the country's largest sports awards show was held in Winnipeg and just the second time it was held outside Toronto or Ottawa, where it has usually been staged.
"I want to say thank you -- it is a big honour for me to get this prize," said Roberge, 21. "I didn't get nominated back home in Quebec (for provincial honours) but I was nominated here so it's really special."
An Olympian in 2006 in Turin, she most recently won gold in the 500-metre race at the 2007 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships.
The gala event at the Garrick included a joint presentation of the annual Sport Manitoba Awards, which recognize excellence and achievement by youth athletes and volunteers in amateur sport throughout Manitoba.
Ashley Voth of the University of Manitoba women's volleyball team, who is also a Canadian national team member, and national junior team diver Cam McLean were named the Sport Manitoba female and male junior athletes of the year.
"This is a huge honour," said Voth, who became sixth two-time winner of the award, which she also won in 2004. "Volleyball is a team sport and you can't do anything without your teammates so I really want to thank them."
The event will continue today with the first True Sport Road Trip, a community outreach program to inspire inner-city school children in sport.
Children at three Manitoba schools will meet and hear empowering stories from some of Canada's top amateur athletes. Students at Robert Smith School in Selkirk and Winnipeg's Elwick Community School and St. John's High School will meet a group of accomplished athletes, which include local names such as Erin Carter, Doris Jones, Gazheek Morrisseau-Sinclair and Voth.
"It's a major event that for two years in a row has brought our Manitoba athletes the opportunity to share the same stage as some of Canada's top athletes as far as the presentation," said Jeff Hnatiuk, Sport Manitoba president and CEO.
"We've got athletes going into schools (today) and that is extremely valuable in terms of encouraging participation in sport. It's extras like that which have really added to having the event here in Winnipeg."
Taekwondo competitor Karine Sergerie of Montreal and hurdler Perdita Felicien were finalists for female athlete of the year. Sergerie, who has already qualified for this summer's Olympics in Beijing, could not contain her enthusiasm for what lies ahead in her competitive career.
"It was a long road but I know I'm going, I'm going and I'm so happy! The whole qualification process is the most stressful part of it all," said Sergerie, 23, who qualified a month ago at a competition in Regina. She said a technicality kept her from trying to qualify in 2004.
"I was very bitter for a long time and I finally got over it," she added. "But those emotions come back and it was really good for me. Sometimes when you lose, it just gives you that extra motivation to come back really strong and I was able to grow up as an athlete."
Speed skater Philippe Riopel, a finalist for the junior athlete honour, said he appreciated being nominated for the award.
"It means a lot because it means the whole nation has found out what you've done and it's a pretty big honour right now," said Riopel, who recently finished his final season as a junior at a meet in China, where he won the 500-metre race and finished seventh overall.
ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
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