BEIJING kayak silver medallist Jacqui Lawrence is the special guest at Saturday night’s University of New England Sports Awards.
Lawrence graduated from UNE in 2005 with a first class honours degree in natural resources.
Earlier this year she represented Australia at the Olympic Games in Beijing, winning a silver medal in the women’s K1 single slalom.
She began kayaking as a child in her home town of Old Benalbo in northern NSW, first on the Clarence River as part of a school sports exercise and later on a dam her father built on their property.
Her training regime included competing against her younger sisters, both of whom are also champion kayakers.
Her sister Rosalyn is in the Australian Under 23 team and Jacqui narrowly beat sister Kate to become Australia’s representative at Beijing.
A member of the UNE kayaking team, Jacqui began competing internationally with the help of Sport UNE, who supported her entry in the World Junior Slalom Championships in 2000.
In 2001 she was awarded the inaugural Sport UNE full sporting
scholarship.
Email a friend