British Columbia takes three national Longboats

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A world champion and a Paralympic gold medallist are this year's national recipients of the Tom Longboat Award.

The awards honor Canada's most outstanding Aboriginal athletes.

Lara Mussell, an ultimate Frisbee player who lives in Maple Ridge, B.C., is the female athlete for 2004. And the male winner is Richard Peter, a wheelchair basketball player, who lives in Vancouver.

Both were presented with their awards at a ceremony on April 21 in Miramichi, N.B. The ceremony was held in conjunction with the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships.

Before winning the national awards, both Mussell and Peter were named as the regional winners for British Columbia for the Tom Longboat Awards.

Mussell, a Sto:lo Native, was the captain of the Canadian squad that won the world ultimate Frisbee team championships in Turku, Finland this past August. About 30 countries sent teams to the world tournament, which is held every four years.

As for Peter, this marks the second time he has won the national Tom Longboat Award.

He previously won for his performances in 2000, after helping Canada win a gold medal at the Paralympics which were staged in Sydney, Australia that year.

Peter, 32, was also a member of the Canadian squad that defended its gold medal at last year's Paralympics in Athens, Greece.

Meanwhile, a pair of other individuals-Kara Jan Willie of B.C. and Manitoba's Faron Asham-also received national Tom Longboat Awards as the top Aboriginal female and male coaches.

This past year Willie served as the assistant coach for the varsity women's soccer team with B.C.'s Malaspina University Mariners.

Willie is a member of the Musgamagw-Tsawatainuek First Nation.

As for Asham, he was the head coach of the Manitoba Youth Selects, an under-17 provincial baseball squad.

Asham, who is Metis, guided the squad to a bronze medal at last year's Baseball Canada Cup tournament.

A total of 18 athletes who were regional winners (nine female, nine male) were vying for the national Tom Longboat Awards.