There are still tickets available for the 2019 Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Dinner. The annual dinner will honours individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to their sport in Victoria. The dinner will be held at the Westin Bear Mountain on Saturday, October 26.

“The Induction Ceremony and Dinner is the highlight of our year,” says Doug Jennings, President of the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame. “This is our 26^th annual event and we have inducted over 200 sports personalities from Victoria, who have made a valuable contribution to their sport nationally and internationally.”

Three athletes will be inducted – Ryan Cochrane (Swimming), Mike Piechnick (Fastball), and Rob Short (Field Hockey). In addition Susan Morriss will be honoured in the officials category for her services to Figure Skating, Wynn Gmitroski in the coaching category for athletics, and Stacie Louttit and John McRoberts in the teams category for sailing. The builders category will be represented by the Victoria Motorcycle Club (VMC). The Sid Thomas Media Award will be presented this year to Alex Robertson for his services to television.

Cochrane is Canada’s most decorated swimmer achieving eight FINA World Championship titles, two Olympic medals – silver and bronze – as well as three gold medals at the Pan Pacific Championships. Piechnick pitched his way to 10 Provincial Championships, four Canadian Championships, two U.S National Men’s Championships, and two winning Pan Am gold medals. Short played for Canada at two Olympic Games, two World Cups, four Commonwealth Games and five Pan American Games before becoming a successful coach and founding the Rob Short Coaching Academy.

Morriss has been a figure skating official for 50 years and is internationally certified in all four skating disciplines – singles, pairs, dance and synchronized skating. Gmitroski has coached some of Canada’s top middle distance and distance runners for 33 years bringing home many Olympic, Commonwealth and World Championship titles. Louttit and McRoberts competed in two Paralympic Games, winning a bronze medal in Beijing in 2008.

One of the oldest continuous motorized sporting clubs in Canada, the VMC has been active for over 110 years, producing many champion riders from Canadian scrambles champion in the 1950s to International Six Day Trials medalists in the 70s and multiple national champions in the early 2000s.

Robertson was CHEK-TV Sports Director from 1974 through 2003 producing over 14,000 stories, almost all featuring local athletes, coaches and teams, although he also interviewed international athletes such as Muhammed Ali, Wayne Gretzky and a young Tiger Woods.

Tickets for the October 26 Induction dinner are $135 per person. More information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.gvshof.ca/events.html