VIDEO-Durban North paddler crowned ‘Athlete of the Year’
Hayley Nixon has now joined an esteemed list of former winners, including double Olympic Champion Caster Semenya for the 'Athlete of the Year' award.
DURBAN North paddler, Hayley Nixon recently won the coveted Athlete of the Year award at the Momentum gsports awards ceremony.
She has now joined an esteemed list of winners, including double Olympic Champion Caster Semenya, Banyana Banyana star Thembi Kgatlana and Ultra Marathon record-breaker, Caroline Wostmann.
The award capped off an amazing 2019 for Nixon who last year was crowned the women’s champion in the World Surf Ski League. The league sees paddlers from around the world compete in six open ocean races across five continents. Her achievements don’t stop there as she also won the women’s singles national surfski.
Out of the water she has been involved in free surfski coaching clinics for underprivileged girls on the Durban beachfront.
“I’m still in disbelief that I won. I keep pinching myself to see if it is all real. I’m blown away by all the messages of support and love after receiving the award which means so much to me. Overall I feel this is also a win for the sport of surfski, which isn’t considered as a mainstream sport. As an ambassador for surfski I would hope this will raise the profile of the sport in the country because we have some incredibly talented female paddlers. It has been an amazing experience to be part of the GSport journey this year and I can’t give enough thanks to Kass Naidoo and her amazing team at gsport4girls for creating this platform to showcase, celebrate and nurture women’s sport in South Africa,” she said.
Nixon also thanked all those who have supported her career including her husband, Paul.
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