The Wānaka Watersports Facility Trust is a registered charitable trust. Meet our trustees and learn more about the history of this positive community asset.
Jackie Boyd (Chairperson)
Shane Gibson
Shane is a chartered accountant by training and a passionate rower when time allows. When it comes to sport he is a firm believer in giving something a go and doing it to an average level rather than being an armchair critic and watching a professional do their thing.
Shane’s training and career makes him a great asset to the running and operation of the Watersports Facility which he enjoys as a way to give back to sport.
Jaime Hutter
Jaime took up rowing in 1992, moved to Wānaka in 2004, and has been Treasurer of the Wanaka Rowing Club for the past six years. He enjoys racing on the water with the masters rowers and off the water in triathlons (Challenge Wanaka), running (Queenstown Marathon), cycling (Hawea Epic & Motatapu) and even on the rowing machine.
Jaime is married to a lake swimmer and is the parent of a keen Junior Challenge Wanaka athlete.
Marjorie Cook
Marjorie has lived in Wānaka since 2003. She grew up in Timaru and like many, she always holidayed in Wanaka, visiting her grandparents at least four times a year as a child. She loves open water swimming and co-founded the Wanaka Lake Swimmers Club in 2011.
She has worked in the media industry since 1997, presently as a senior journalist for the Otago Daily Times and editor of the community newspaper, the Wanaka Sun. She’s also worked at various times as a part time swim teacher and pool lifeguard.
Peter Eley
Peter is head of Programmes for Outdoor and Adventure Education based at the Wānaka Campus of Otago Polytechnic / Te Pukenga.
He is a Senior Lecturer, experienced professional outdoor educator and tertiary tutor. He has taught on the Outdoor and Adventure programmes for the last 20 years. Originally travelling to Wānaka from Dunedin to enjoy the outdoors, he’s now based here full time. Peter’s passion is water, but he enjoys mountain biking and has recently studied bee keeping and is enjoying keeping bees at home.
Brian Hopley
Brian returned to his Wanaka family home, semi retired from a career in High Performance Sport as a Sports Physiologist and Exercise Science specialist. His career took him worldwide, working with the Australian Rugby Union (Wallabies 1991 – 1995), Squash, Sailing, Surf Life Saving, Mogul skiing, AIS and Australian Sprint kayaking, Tonga and Samoan Rugby Unions, Rugby Southland, and Netball with both Firebirds and Sunshine Coast Lightning in the ANZ Championships and the Suncorp Super Netball League.
Brian has a passion for watersports, regularly paddling a racing surf ski and competing in veteran class paddling events. One of his goals is to encourage others in Wanaka to use the Watersports Facility we are so fortunate to have on the lakefront.
HISTORY
The Wanaka Watersports Facility was born from two ideas:
1. The need for the Wanaka Rowing Club to find new premises closer to the lake, and
2. The desire of many locals for an all encompassing base for non-motorised water based activities, covering performance sport and recreation, both disabled and able bodied participants, and residents and visitors, those young, old and their families.
Led by resilient Wanaka Watersports Facility Trustees, the resource consent process was a long one, fraught with many obstacles. However with the support, commitment and guidance of many, we came out the other side with an award winning building and a fabulous community facility of which we are very proud.
The Wanaka Watersports Facility was officially opened on the 23 November 2019.
A project that started as a dream, has most certainly become a wonderful community asset that will support the wellbeing of residents in our area for generations to come.
WANT TO GET INVOLVED?
We welcome your support!
Donations, volunteer hours, sponsorships and grants help us to fund essential repairs and maintenance, keeping our membership costs down.
