Sport is an important part of Canberran life and over the years we’ve turned out our share of champions. Take a look back at some of the sporting giants we lost in 2024 and some of the youngsters who have started to make their mark.
14. Michelle Heyman’s recall to the Matildas is a great Canberra sporting success story
by Tim Gavel
A new generation of fans now appreciates Michelle Heyman’s skills. Photo: Michelle Heyman Facebook.
Canberra has a sporting history where success is often defined by achievement under adversity.
With five rounds to go in the 1989 NSWRL season, the Raiders were seventh and in danger of missing the finals. They then won nine in a row to win the premiership. And on 6 July 1980, the ACT Australian Rules team upset the VFL at Manuka Oval – certainly a win for the ages.
These are just two examples of Canberra sports rising against the odds.
13. Canberra cyclist Lauren Bates is unstoppable
by Tim Gavel
Cycling champion Lauren Bates. Photo: Supplied.
Lauren Bates has hardly trained on the track since winning three gold medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games last year. But for a bit of fun, Lauren got back on the track at the National titles at the Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane.
She walked away with five gold medals in the under-19s.
12. 30 years on from the Raiders last premiership, the untold stories keep on coming but the well is almost dry
by Tim Gavel
Ricky Stuart is the thread connecting the glories of the past to the hopes of today. Photo: Jayze Photography.
It’s 30 years since the Raiders won their last premiership and stories from that glorious day are still emerging, writes Tim Gavel.
11. No other option: Rugby Australia takes control of the Brumbies’ Super Rugby program
by Tim Gavel
Brumbies CEO Phil Thomson, Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh and Brumbies chair Matt Nobbs at the announcement of Rugby Australia’s plans for the Brumbies Super Rugby programs. Photo: Tim Gavel.
Just how close the Brumbies came to folding we may never know, but there was a palpable sense of relief with the announcement that Rugby Australia would be taking control of the Super Rugby program.
Under the partnership from 1 August, Rugby Australia will own 100 per cent of the Super Rugby programs.
Rugby Australia will take over the debt being carried by the Brumbies. There is a guarantee that the Brumbies will stay in Canberra. The ACT and Southern NSW will run community rugby, including the John I Dent Cup.
10. ACT claims Open Women’s National Indoor Hockey title for the first time
by Tim Gavel
The winning ACT Indoor Hockey Open Women’s side. Photo: Hockey ACT Facebook.
It been a long time coming, but the ACT Open Women’s hockey team, led by two veterans, won the National Indoor Hockey title.
At 39 years of age, Emma Taylor has been a member of many ACT campaigns that have fallen short and it appeared the national title was beyond her reach.
Bec Hotchkiss, aged 40, won the national championship with Victoria 12 years ago but hadn’t held the shield aloft for the ACT.
9. Is this the greatest comeback in Canberra sporting history as the CBR Brave win the Goodall Cup for the third time?
by Tim Gavel
In their hands once again. The Caribou Canberra Brave win the 2024 Goodall Cup. Photo: veritykg.photos (CBR Brave Facebook).
After a shocking start to the season, the Caribou Canberra Brave claimed the Goodall Cup with a 5-nil thumping of the Melbourne Ice. It’s a win on par with the incredible run of the ’89 Raiders, writes Tim Gavel.
8. The focus for Canberra sport in 2024 should be on improving the city’s sports facilities
by Tim Gavel
Despite the growth in Canberra’s population, sports facilities in the ACT are sadly lacking. Photo: File.
When the nation’s capital can’t compete with the sporting facilities in regional centres, something’s not quite right, writes Tim Gavel.
Vision of the UC Capitals playing Adelaide Lightning in a school gym in December should, hopefully, be a wake-up call to initiate action on Canberra’s depleted sports facilities, he says.
7. Running groups in Canberra: a phenomenon with physical and social benefits
by Tim Gavel
The first Mount Ainslie Parkrun on 28 April 2018. Photo: Supplied.
In recent weeks, our local pub has been inundated with pub runners on a Tuesday night.
It’s a trend happening across Canberra.
Once the exclusive domain of a few through organisations like the Hash House Harriers, which is still going strong, people throughout Canberra are actively engaging in social running groups.
6. Canberra is punching well above its weight on the world’s Muay Thai stage
by James Coleman
Gabrielle De Ramos has become a professional Muay Thai fighter thanks in part to Muay U head coach Kieran Walsh. Photo: James Coleman.
You wouldn’t pick it today, pummelling the life out of a boxing bag in Fyshwick’s Muay U gym, but Gabrielle De Ramos hails from a “very traditional” Filipino family.
“My family moved to Australia when I was fairly young, and they never really wanted me to do anything like this,” she says.
“They didn’t really see sport as an avenue for making money. Filipinos are very traditional and want you to succeed. A lot of them are nurses. My mum’s a nurse, my brother’s a nurse, and my dad works in the hospital.”
5. Queanbeyan mourns the loss of two sporting legends: David Grimmond and Brian Bourke
by Tim Gavel
Loyal to Queanbeyan, David Grimmond. Photo: Supplied.
Queanbeyan has lost two sporting greats who left indelible marks on the clubs they loved and the generations that have followed them. Tim Gavel celebrates the lives of Brian Bourke and David Grimmond.
4. Jordan ditched drugs for 3 am starts at the gym nearly 10 years ago – now he has Canberra’s ‘best physique’
by James Coleman
Jordan Mulcaster is competing at the ICN World Natural Games in Canberra this year for best overall physique. Photo: Jordan Mulcaster.
More than 300 natural physique athletes from more than 16 countries came to Canberra this year to compete for the title of world’s best – our own Jordan Mulcaster among them. It’s certainly not something he would have seen himself doing a few years ago.
3. How Terry Snow turned his passion for horses into a legacy for generations to come
by Tim Gavel
Terry Snow at Willinga Park. Photo: Supplied by Melissa Evans.
The announcement of Terry Snow’s passing rightly focused on his incredible business acumen, his love for his family, his vision and his benevolent generosity.
His legacy is there for all to see across the city: the airport, the buildings, the establishment of a foundation to benefit Canberra’s disadvantaged, and the list goes on.
What is not immediately visible is Terry’s contribution to the sport of equestrian.
2. Kristy Giteau looks to another challenge as the newly appointed co-president of Rugby Australia
by Tim Gavel
Kristy Giteau and Soakai, with their three children in December 2020. Photo: Supplied.
Fixing rugby in Australia is the equivalent of ascending Mount Everest. Tim Gavel says Rugby Australia’s new co-president Kristy Giteau is more than up to the challenge.
Having responded to the needs and agony of a four-year cancer struggle with daughter Ka’ili’, helping rebuild confidence in rugby in Australia appears to be very achievable.
1. The ice-rink cometh: Developers finally ‘very comfortable’ with where Tuggeranong project is up to
by James Coleman
The Canberra Arena’s opening date of 2025 “may have been a little premature in hindsight”. Photo: ACT Government.
The developers of Tuggeranong’s long-awaited ice rink have confirmed it’s still coming but added there’s been little to announce, given the work over the past 12 months has been “about as interesting and captivating as watching paint dry”.
ACT Labor first promised the Canberra Arena in the lead-up to the 2020 election, in partnership with investment company Cruachan and its development partner Pelligra.
To be built on Rowland Rees Crescent in Greenway in the Tuggeranong Town Centre, it was heralded as the new home for Canberra’s ice sport athletes, including national ice hockey champions, the CBR Brave, with space for 3600 spectators.
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