by Jerry Connors, secretary, USHWA

Harrisburg, PA — Moira Fanning, Director of Publicity and Event Operations for the prestigious Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown, and generally Queen Of All That She Surveys, has been selected as the winner of this year’s United States Harness Writers Association’s Member of the Year Award (or USHWAn of the Year, as the group calls it).

Fanning, certainly a trailblazer and one of the most accomplished people, let alone women, in the sport, performs any number of tasks, from the simple to the radically challenging, in her work for the Society, most handled with aplomb, and the others with aplomb quickly recovered.

For example, most of the challenges of moving the “nuts and bolts” of the Breeders Crown championships from its comfortable Meadowlands/Toronto rotation of recent years to Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs fell to her, under the knowledgeable eye of Society CEO Tom Charters, and Pocono recorded probably the best night of racing ever in its 45-year history.

For USHWA, Fanning was National President from 2002-2004 (the first female president), and today still serves as the President of the New Jersey Chapter. She is also the Chairman of USHWA’s important Integrity Committee.

Fanning will receive her USHWAn of the Year honor at the group’s annual awards dinner at the Marriott North in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on February 27, 2011. This is the second time Fanning has been USHWAn of the Year (also in 1999); perhaps not coincidentally, the only other two-time USHWAn, Steve Wolf (1990 and 2000) is Chairman of this year’s dinner, and more information about the dinner and the surrounding weekend can be gathered from him by e-mailing stevejw@bellsouth.net.