GOLD medallists in netball and yachting respectively, Caitlin Thwaites and Glenn Ashby are in the race for the 50th Bendigo Advertiser Sports Star of the Year award.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Thwaites holds the rare distinction in Sports Star history of winning monthly awards in two disciplines - netball and volleyball.
The goalshooting champion was adjudged winner for August in the Prime 7 and Bendigo Bank-backed awards following Australia's gold medal-winning performance at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Highs of her play in her first Games campaign were 19 goals from 23 attempts against Wales, 42 from 50 against Barbados, and 21 from 23 shots against Trinidad & Tobago.
The Diamonds went on to score a 59-42 victory in the gold medal play-off against New Zealand.
Thwaites did not take to the court against the Silver Ferns, but she joined an elite group of netballers to have won Commonwealth Games gold.
The judging panel used its discretion to add Glenn Ashby to the list of 2014 award winners.
Ashby won the world A-class catamaran championship in February.
A mutliple world champion across three classes, Ashby ruled the waves and winds at Takapuna in Auckland, New Zealand.
The yachting ace, who first learnt to sail with Bendigo Yacht Club on Lake Eppalock, is a dual Sports Star of the Year winner.
The 50th presentation of Sports Star of the Year will be on Friday, February 27 at the All Seasons Hotel in Bendigo.
Other athletes in the running for the 2014-15 award are Nathan Wilson, lawn bowls; Bendigo Spirit, basketball; Bryan Jolly, judo; Matt White, BMX; Zak Dempster, cycling; Glenn O'Shea, cycling, and Brad Rawiller, horse racing.