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Nanaimo Sport Achievement Awards gives out $5,000 through athlete assistance program

Jun 1, 2017 | 11:26 AM

NANAIMO — Three local athletes received a large financial boost this week.
 
Boxer Ivy Richardson, BMX rider Allison Churko, and gymnast Adin Brenner were given funding from the Nanaimo Sport Achievement Awards.
 
Richardson and Churko both received $2,000 while Brenner was given $1,000.
 
The money for the athlete assistance program comes from a special silent auction held at the Nanaimo Sport Achievement Awards ceremony.
 
Organizer Marilyn Sullivan is pleased the event has been able to help many athletes from a variety of sports.
 
“We have the ability, and we’re the only faucet in Nanaimo, to bring all sports into one room and celebrate everyone’s accomplishments,” said Sullivan.
 
The funding for these high level athletes goes towards expenses for training, travel, and competition costs. 
 
Ivy Richardson has been boxing for about two years and has won bouts at the Oregon Golden Gloves and BC Provincials.

She was a member of Team BC at the nationals this past April in Quebec and now Richardson is looking forward to a boxing event in the fall.

“The one in November is the next big one. It’s BC versus Alberta so that should be a fun event,” said Richardson.

The other $2,000 recipient, Allison Churko, finished in the top three in all of her BMX races in 2016.
 
She finished in first place at the BC Premier Series for cruiser class, and finished the season ranked number six out of all female BMX cruisers in Canada.
 
Churko is preparing for a busy summer. 
 
“I’m going to the BMX World Championships in South Carolina in July and I’m heading to Calgary at the end of August,” Churko said.
 
The Calgary event is the 2017 BMX Canadian Championships.
 
Adin Brenner was given $1,000 for trampoline gymnastics.
 
He finished 13th at the World Age Group Competitions (the junior world championship) in 2016 in Denmark.
 
Back in October Brenner earned the title of Indo-Pacific Champion for double mini trampoline.
 
He says the money from the athlete assistance program will help ease some of his fundraising burden for 2017.
 
“Nationals are in Oshawa July 12,” said Brenner. Hopefully that will go well. If it goes well then World Championships in November will happen.”
 
Sullivan notes the support of local businesses and the community helped to make the 2017 silent auction very successful.
 
That allowed the Nanaimo Sport Achievement Awards to give out twice as much assistance funding as the program generated in 2016.