OMAC Honors Its Five Award Winners

The Old Montauk Athletic Club held its annual awards dinner on Thursday, May 4, at the Springs Tavern, honoring some of the area’s top adult and young athletes.

The 2023 OMAC Athlete of the Year was Tom McGlade, and the Community Service Award went to Kim Covell of Water Mill. Claire McGovern, a varsity three-sport athlete who plays soccer, basketball and lacrosse, was named the High School Female Athlete of the Year, while Jack Dickinson, the varsity baseball team’s ace who also started on the varsity basketball team the past few seasons, was named the High School Male Athlete of the Year. Camryn Hatch, a five-year varsity swimmer, was named the High School Swimmer of the Year.

The Community Service Award is given to a person who has substantially contributed to the community through sport and Covell certainly fits that bill. An assistant editor for The Express News Group, Covell started the Flying Point Run for Autism in 2006, after her son, now 24, was diagnosed with autism. Initially, the proceeds went to an autism center at Stony Brook University. But later, realizing money raised locally should be used locally, she said, Covell sought nonprofit status for the Flying Point Foundation for Autism, and the proceeds shifted there. The result, continuing today, has been a summer camp in Southampton for those with autism and their typical peers, recreational programs throughout the year, teacher grants, student scholarships and an annual training seminar for first responders. After a good 10 years, the last Flying Point Run was in 2015.

A year later, Covell set a new goal: cycling 100 miles from Manhattan to the East End with Bike to the Beach, a group that organizes rides to benefit autism organizations in the area in which the various rides are staged. For that event, she organized Team Flying Point and has been consistently raising tens of thousands of dollars each year — and hopes to again this year — that are used to fund programs of the Flying Point Foundation for Autism. This year, the Flying Point Foundation for Autism will open its own site at SYS, serving all age groups in an inclusive setting. Also, Covell organized the Main Street Mile in Southampton to benefit Best Buddies, a race that drew participants from across Long Island.

Covell is an athlete herself, often finding the podium in her age group in numerous races, half marathons and open water swims. She has raced in duathlons and did her first sprint triathlon in 2016 and tries to do at least one each season, and has managed to finish a bucket list item by finishing the Mighty Hamptons Olympic distance triathlon a few years ago.

When she’s not competing herself, Covell is very often volunteering at athletic events for other charities, including the Hamptons Youth Triathlon that supports the i-tri girls, a bike marshal during the Hamptons Marathon, usually riding in the middle of the race pack to encourage those who may need it the most. She hikes the local trails almost every day with her autistic son, and mountain bikes locally and up the island.

Fitness has been a mainstay for Covell her entire adult life, she said, because she relishes the connection between a strong body and a strong heart and mind, as well as meeting amazing and inspiring friends along the way, which is something Jen Fowkes, OMAC vice president, spoke about at last week’s awards dinner. Fowkes recounted when she and Covell were at an event at the East Hampton YMCA where she got overwhelmed with finishing the swim in the pool. Covell thoroughly encouraged her to get back in the pool. Fowkes did and managed to complete the event.

“To say that I was surprised to get a call that I was selected for the Community Service Award is an understatement,” Covell said in a statement, as she couldn’t attend the dinner. “But to be honored for contributions to our community through athletics is a true honor. To me, it’s not only about the money and awareness raised through events, but also about the friends you meet along the way. If this recognition has the added bonus of bringing attention to the Flying Point Foundation for Autism, that makes it even more special to me, and, by extension, those who benefit from the organization’s programs. So thank you, OMAC.”

McGlade was named Person of the Year for a multitude of reasons, said OMAC President Sharon McCobb. For starters, he is a constant fixture and finisher in all of the local triathlons, but he also competes in various endurance races. This winter, he was in Alaska where he endured extreme frostbite to each of his fingers. He is also a firefighter who did a lot of work at ground zero and contracted a bout of cancer that he beat.

“I was literally blown away when I heard I was getting this award because most of my real racing occurred 30 years ago in the late ’80s and early ’90s. This seems like a lifetime ago,” he said. “Just looking out I see so many people that I know that it’s almost like a family reunion kind of thing, but what I will say about this award and this whole community is that’s what it really is. If you raced out here for any length of time, you know that this place is really special. This place is incredible, from the swim teams that they have at the high school, to the lifeguarding they do out there in the summer, to the triathlons, it is really a unique spot. And it really is inspiring.”

McGlade pushed those in attendance to continue to inspire and push the young people into sports.

“That’s something that you really need to be doing, keep pushing these young kids into these sports and have them continue to race,” he said. “It served me well over the years, here I am today.”

The High School Swimmer of the Year Award is fairly new to OMAC’s list of awards. It was introduced after the unexpected death of a local swimmer and OMAC member Bill O’Donnell. Just like with the other recipients, there were a multitude of reasons why Hatch was selected for her award. She competed at the highest level of swimming for whatever program she was swimming for, whether it was reaching states with the varsity swim team or both nationals and states with the local East Hampton YMCA Hurricanes.

Hatch is attending the University of Tennessee on a premed track. Her varsity swim head coach Craig Brierley said it was Hatch’s successes and failures, equally, that made her the person she is today.

“Her family is amazing and I blame her family and her parents for the reason she is so awesome,” he said. “As a parent, I know what it takes to raise a child, to try to prepare them for what’s ahead — Cammy’s successes, learning experiences, failures — have all prepared her,” he said. “Academically, she’s off the charts. She sets goals, in swimming or school, and she knows what she wants. Most people have talent, what you do with it is a choice. Cammy has wonderful talents, academically and athletically. She works really hard. Understanding the importance of leading student-athletes, I use the sport of swimming to do that, to challenge them to get to that level that they should be at. Cammy accepted all challenges, learned from them and is better from them.”

McGovern, the daughter of East Hampton varsity boys soccer head coach Don McGovern, played four years of varsity soccer and basketball. She’ll be attending Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs — McCobb’s alma mater — in the fall where she said she may try and play basketball. Dickinson is heading to Niagara University, where he’ll continue to play baseball.

All three student-athletes received $1,000 scholarships along with their awards.