Two Southern Highland sportspeople have been taken out the August month of the Berrima District Sports Awards.
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Nine year old Heidi Bowie is the Berrima District Sports Award's junior winner for August after returning from the Australian Federation of Brazilian Jui Jitsu National Championships with a gold medal.
The event saw athletes converge in Melbourne at the Sports and Aquatic Centre and, in a nail-biting bout, Heidi came from behind to win by points 6-2.
This year she remains undefeated in her age group after winning gold at the Queensland State Championships and a silver at the state championships in New South Wales.
Heidi, who represents Pure Jui Jitsu and trains twice a week under the guidance of coach Tony Pycroft, is currently preparing for the International Federation of
Jui Jitsu Pan Pacific Championships to be held in Melbourne in late October. Heidi, who is a year three student at Berrima Public School, also played Hockey for Mittagong during winter and is a member of the Empire Performance dancing troupe.
Matt Heard is a gentleman who packs a lot into life.
The well-respected Chevalier College PDHPE/Wilderness teacher and Leader of Learning at Chevalier College and father of two young children is also a national triathlete who recently travelled to Lausanne in Switzerland to compete at the ITU World Championships.
Matt switched from Adventure Racing to Triathlon in 2012 and quickly realised his body and lifestyle were best suited to the sprint distance.
To qualify, Matt placed second and fifth in two Triathlon Australia sanctioned events in the 35-39 age group and went to the event as the second highest Australian qualifier.
He managed to fit in two sessions per day, six days a week prior to departing Australia and acknowledges his wife and children as his greatest supporters.
Though this is not the first time he has qualified for a World Championships, the age of his children and location meant that the timing was right.
Lining up against 98 athletes from around the world he finished in fifteen place.
