Date: September 26th 2013

Olympic rowers to be honoured

An official ceremony to rename the Clive Ski Reserve, Evers Swindell Reserve will take place this Sunday morning (29th September).

The reserve is to be renamed in honour of Hastings born, double Olympic gold medalists Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell (married Caroline Meyer and Georgina Earl). They won gold in the women’s double sculls at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and repeated the feat at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 before retiring from the sport later that year.

Caroline says “Georgina and I are extremely honoured to have the reserve named after us. I spent many hours rowing along the Clive River in the early days of my career and it is great that the reserve is on the banks of this river that means so much to me.”

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule says “I am delighted that Council has been able to identify such an appropriate reserve to carry the name of our sporting superstars. In 2004 I promised that a park or reserve would be named in honour of the girls remarkable sporting achievements and this Sunday Council will fulfill that promise.”

A community fair is to be held at the reserve on Sunday starting at around 9.30am which will include the official naming ceremony. Music will be provided by “Men in Black” while the kids will be well entertained with a bouncy castle, mini jeeps and donkey rides.

The naming ceremony begins at 10am with Lawrence Yule to unveil the information board which will officially rename the reserve. Members of the Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre will perform during the ceremony, there will be a video tribute to the girls with short clips of their gold medal winning performances and the ceremony will conclude with a ceremonial row past by a waka ama and boats from the Hawke’s Bay Rowing Club.

The boat used by Caroline and Georgina to win gold at the Athens Olympics will be on display at the fair. The twin’s younger sister, Pippa will represent the family at the ceremony.

In addition to their Olympic gold medal performances, Georgina and Caroline won gold at the Rowing World Championships in 2002 (Seville), 2003 (Milan) and 2005 (Gifu).

ENDS

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