Panellists Brady Threlfall, Joh Lyle, Regis Chakabva and Marty Hore shared insights from their careers. Photos: Holly Daniel.
The 2025 Echuca-Moama Sportstar awards were held on Thursday evening at Moama Bowling Club, the night celebrating the region’s leading sportspeople from the past year.
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The night also featured a star-studded panel of sporting heroes including two with local connections.
Rochester FNC off-season recruit Marty Hore, and Bamawm-Lockington United cricket captain Regis Chakabva joined Olympic snowboarder Joh Lyle and marathon runner and coach Brady Threlfall, the quartet sharing insights from their elite sporting careers.
The discussion included pre-game/competition rituals, mental resilience and sporting opportunities in the regions.
Zimbabwean wicketkeeper-batter Regis Chakabva played 22 Tests, 61 One Day Internationals and 49 Twenty20 Internationals for his nation, making one Test and one ODI century, before joining BLU in 2022.
Leitchville-Gunbower junior Marty Hore played 20 AFL games for the Melbourne Demons across two stints after he was selected with pick 56 in the 2018 AFL draft, and signed on with Rochester this off-season.
Joh Lyle featured at two Winter Olympic Games, competing in the parallel giant slalom at Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010, and was national champion for 10 consecutive years, named Australian snowboarder of the year in 2002 and 2009.
Brady Threlfall has been ranked among the country’s top 15 marathon runners in nine of the past 10 years, is co-founder of the online coaching platform Run2PB and hosts the Inside Running podcast, the most-listened-to running podcast in Australia.
The Riverine Herald’s Matthew Kappos led the panel featuring local sporting stars Regis Chakabva, Marty Hore, Joh Lyle and Brady Threlfall.
Photo by
Holly Daniel
The panel wrapped up with the guests giving advice to younger sportspeople, after each carving out successful careers.
“Looking back at my younger self, (my advice) is to really live in that moment,” Lyle said.
“Just wake up every day and love what you do and not look forward.
“Don't think too much about the goals and the results, just trust in yourself, live in that moment and love what you're doing.”
Chakabva shared a similar sentiment.
“Looking back to our younger selves, for me, it feels all quite a bit of a blur,” he said.
“I was there and then now I'm here, and I don't quite remember what exactly happened in between.
“So, I would say, as Joh mentioned, absolutely enjoy what you're doing, enjoy the process.
“Life is full of lessons, keep learning, keep enjoying, stay disciplined, and be the sort of sportsman that, when you get to this sort of age, you can look back, and you can be proud of what you've done.”
For Hore the focus was setting yourself up for success away from game day.
“I think perseverance, determination and self-belief will get you a long way,” he said.
“Sometimes things don't go your way. Growing up I always wanted to play schoolboys football or be a (Bendigo) pioneer, but I never got the opportunity to do that.
“I think if you're passionate about it, and you love it, stick at it, things will turn.
“Create elite habits from a young age and they'll get ingrained.
“The way people train nowadays, game day is probably the time when you get to put your strengths on show so it's really important being able to train at a high level and being very diligent with your training.”
Threlfall finished with a contrasting perspective, encouraging athletes to take time away from their sport when needed.
“I'd hate to see anyone lose their childhood because they were taking their sports so seriously,” he said.
“It's great to be driven, but there are so many fun things you do as a kid and when you look back at sports it's definitely one of those huge ones, but play as many sports as you can with your friends.
“Take it serious, but not too serious that you get yourself worried or anything like that.
“It's a long-term kind of game for most people out there, and you want to be in 20 years having fun, not three years super serious and then injured or burnt out.”
In the awards portion of the evening, bowler Olivia Cartwright took out the senior Sportstar award, while upcoming 2026 AFL draftee Cody Walker was named junior Sportstar.
Echuca Moama Cycling Club president Matthew Dobeli was the Spirit of Sport winner, while the Moama Steamers were recognised as Team/Club of the Year, and Rushworth seniors coach Mark Wheatley, and A-grade coach Sheree Starling were co-winners of the Coach of the Year award.
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