On behalf of the Club, the Commodore congratulated Mr Gianni Aprea who had been nominated to receive the Noel Croucher Award in 2020 for his truly exceptional contribution to rowing and paddling over many years.
Mr Aprea is currently the Dragon Boating Captain, the chairman of the Dragon Boat Sub-Committee and the Rowing Secretary. He has done more than any other in recent years to develop the sport of Dragon Boating within the club and Hong Kong at large. A few of his achievements were that he established the first ever Dragon Boat races at the Club: the MI and KI Cups; he started juniors racing and schools training programs and various corporate partnerships; and generally elevated and extended the outreach of the Dragon Boat program. When he joined, the Club Dragon Boating Section were lucky to fill 2 boats (and only had 2); and now they have a full fleet of 10 boats and additional equipment to support multiple programs and races. He also elevated the overall status of the program. The Club now has multiple athletes who have competed with their respective national teams at the World Nations Dragon Boat championships (and will continue to do so when the event is, hopefully, held in Hong Kong next year). This includes training partnerships with national teams for the UK, the US, Spain and Russia. He also has a long history of collaboration with the Club’s Charity Foundation and other local charities, he continually volunteers his time to improve and maintain club facilities and equipment; has encouraged and supported dozens of membership applications including Junior, Ordinary and Full and has helped with increasing overall membership of the Rowing Section.
Mr Aprea has also been on the Rowing Committee (for many years), Marine SubCommittee, Membership Matters Sub-Committee, Membership Committee, Paddle Sports Sub-Committee, Dragon Boat Sub-Committee, ATIR planning working group. He also contributed to the KI gymnasium redevelopment and the Middle Island Development Working Group, and assisted the Middle Island Sub-Committee, the Family Panel Sub-Committee and the RHKYC Charity Foundation with many of its events.
The Commodore invited Mr Aprea to receive the Noel Croucher Award for his outstanding contribution to rowing and paddling.