HSOBA Young Alumni Award 2017
The Hutchins School Old Boys’ Association (HSOBA) Young Alumni Award was launched in 2016 and celebrates an Old Boy who has left the School no more than 15 years ago, is a good man of character and has excelled in arts, sport, business or community service.
This year Tom Allwright (’08) was announced as the 2017 winner and was presented with the award at the Ray Vincent Lunch held on 24 November. Tom was a boarder at Hutchins and was a talented AFL player and rower at school. He was drafted to Geelong in 2008 but his AFL career was cut short after two games when he injured his knee and required a knee reconstruction. Since then Tom has found a passion for trekking and now operates a business taking trekkers to destinations like Kokoda, Kilimanjaro and Everest Base Camp. It was on his last trek to Everest Base Camp that Matthew Jones, one of Tom’s fellow trekkers, passed away due to altitude sickness.
In honour of Matthew’s life, Tom is now preparing for a return to Everest for a VIP luxury charity walk in April next year. Matthew was a Type 1 diabetic and the trek will raise a significant amount of funds towards the treatment of Type 1 diabetes.