Four Richmond athletes hope to do a little more celebrating in their own backyard.

Kyle Hamilton, Carla Bradstock, Evan Dunfee and Virginia Watson have all been named finalists for the Telus Sport B.C. Athlete of the Year Awards. The winners will be announced on March 24 at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond.

Hamilton is up for the Team of the Year award after captaining Canada's eight crew to Olympic gold in rowing. The B.C. based crew has already been named Canadian Team of the Year by several media outlets and was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame.

Bradstock's UBC Thunderbirds are also up for the Team of the Year award.

She closed out her outstanding university volleyball career in impressive style by leading the Thunderbirds to the CIS national championship and earning tournament MVP honours in the process. The former Cambie star was also named Canada West MVP.

Race walker Evan Dunfee will be looking to add to his growing hardware collection as a finalist for High School Athlete of the Year.

The McNair graduation was in Toronto last month where he received the prestigious Ed Begley Memorial Trophy as the country's most outstanding junior athlete in road running, cross-country or race walking events.

He capped his high school career by breaking his own Canadian record in the provincial 1500 metre race and finished 10th in the 10-kilometre event at the World Junior Championships in Poland -- with a personal best time of 42 minutes an 56.82 seconds.

Watson is a finalist for College Athlete of the Year -- reflecting her stellar 2007-08 season with the Langara Falcons women's basketball team where she earned All-Canadian status.

The Steveston graduate is off to another terrific start this season and was named B.C. Colleges Athletic Association's Player of the Week after leading the Falcons to a pair of victories.