The 30th ACT Sportstar of the Year Awards were held on Friday 6 December 2013 at a function at the Tradies Club in Woden, and David Bagnall received an award as ACT Sports Volunteer of the Year. The awards are a Black Tie annual celebration of the outstanding achievements of ACT athletes, coaches and administrators and David was adjudged the outstanding sports volunteer across all sports in the ACT in 2013. He was presented with an attractive trophy by Sports Minister Andrew Barr in front of friends, and a packed room of sports identities including a large contingent from the ACT rowing community.
David commented that the award celebrates the success of the 2013 National Masters regatta that Rowing ACT hosted. This Masters event was one of the largest ever run in Australia, and was widely acknowledged as “best ever” by competitors and officials. David co-ordinated all of the early organisation of this event, wrote grant proposals for infrastructure, negotiated with stake holders and was a very active member of the Volunteer Organising Committee of the event.
David was also involved in many other volunteer roles within rowing, including coaching ACT Champion sculler Luke Letcher, a current member of the Australian under 21 rowing team.