Southlander Bailley Unahi has been announced as the guest speaker at tomorrow's ILT Southland Sports Awards.

Unahi, who suffered a spinal injury in 2016 that left her legs paralysed, is now aiming to be the first female sit-skier to represent New Zealand, at the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Italy.

Unahi, originally from Winton, was injured during her second year at Otago University, when while attending an outdoor gig by Six60 on Dunedin’s Castle St, a balcony she was standing under collapsed.

Unahi excels at sit-skiing. Photo: Supplied/

She has since been wheelchair-bound but has excelled at sit-skiing, using modified skis attached to a chair.

She has spent time training at ski fiends in Canada and joined the Snow Sports New Zealand National Development Programme in 2020. 

The 2022 ILT Southland Sports Awards will be held at the Ascot Park Hotel in Invercargill and will celebrate an eventful period which has seen Southlanders achieve from the grassroots through to the highest levels of sport, say organisers. 

Active Southland presents the annual events, the longest-running awards of their kind in New Zealand, on behalf of the Southland Amateur Sports Trust.

Active Southland chief executive Brendon McDermott said the Awards were an important event for the Southland community.

“Sport is such a great platform for inspiring the community and helping us to feel more connected. Friday night is really about a celebration of everything that makes Southland sport so special.”

A very limited number of tickets are still available for the Awards.

Contact Active Southland for details.