Nominations are currently being accepted for the 2022 Hometown Heroes Awards.

The awards recognize and honour dedicated athletes who have been students in the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows School District, who participated in local sports programs, and achieved an international level within their chosen sport.

“Due to Covid the banquet honouring inductees for 2020 and 2021 has not taken place,” explained Mary Robson, vice president of the Meadowridge Sport Heroes Society, the organization behind the awards.

This year’s banquet, that is being planned for October, will happen at Garibaldi Secondary School, noted Robson, the school where both 2020 inductees attended and graduated from: Sarah Hopkins, a member of the Canadian Women’s Sprint Kayak Team from 2002 to 2005, a gold medalist in the 2003 Poznan World Cup Championships, among other accolades; and Brian Malfesi, another paddler who most recently competed at the 2020 Beijing Olympics held in 2021.

The 2021 inductee, who will also be celebrated at this years banquet, is track cyclist Maggie Coles-Lyster who is currently a member of the Canadian National Track Team.

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The first 12 Home Town Heroes were inducted in 1998.

Today the roster of inductees stands at 46 – including 11 Olympians and Paralympians, said Robson.

The Meadowridge Sports Heroes Society was established in 2006.

Nominations for the 2022 inductee will be open until June 30.

To nominate someone go to mapleridge.ca.

For more information email iboekhorst@telus.net.