Winners 2011 - LIVING SPORT Sports Awards - LIVING SPORT

Winners 2011

The sporting stars and heroes of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough were rewarded for their achievements at the annual Sports Awards on Thursday 10 November at the Burgess Hall in St Ives. Ex-Footballer turned Racehorse Trainer Micky Quinn presented the spectacular evening of Awards organised by LIVING SPORT and supported by the Cambridge News. A record number of nominations were received for the ten awards, covering an array of sports, making competition for the Awards the stiffest yet. All winners will now go on to represent the County and themselves at the BBC East Region awards later this month. 

Top of the bill was Louis Smith.  The London 2012 GB medal hopeful gymnast claimed the Anglia Ruskin University Sports Performer of the Year for the second time since 2008. Smith has had an exceptional year, adding a World Championship bronze medal on the pommel horse to the British Masters title in the same discipline, and offering valuable support to his Huntingdon Gym club and GB teammates. Hayley Turner, the first female jockey to have an outright winner in a British Group One race aboard Dream Ahead, and Cambridge-based hurdler Ben Kelk, who earned a first international call-up for GB at the European Junior Championships after national success at 110m hurdles, who took the Runners up spots.

The Anglia Ruskin University Disabled Sports Performer of the Year award was claimed by Tom Baty, an Ely-based Powerlifter. The 28 year old won four gold medals representing GB at the Special Olympics held in Athens earlier this year and beat serial Award finalist Charlotte Cox and swimmer Lauren Steadman to the prize. Cox, the face of GB Special Olympics team, narrowly missed out after winning two silver medals and setting a new IAADS world record at the World Games, while Steadman’s achievements included a world silver medal, European gold, and a European record.

Daniel Goodfellow and Sam Robinson were awarded the GOLD Young Sports Performer of the Year and Barracudas Activity Day Camps Young Community Volunteer of the Year awards respectively. Cambridge Dive Team star Goodfellow, who earned a bronze medal for GB with a stunning performance at European Junior Diving Championships, beat off competition from triathlete Georgina Schwiening from Cambridge and City of Peterborough swimmer Liam Knight for the award. Melbourn Village College pupil Robinson, whose many accomplishments include amassing over 400 hours of voluntary service with the Youth Sports Trust and setting up a basketball scheme at his College, secured the young volunteer honor. Football volunteers Jade Ramm of Peterborough, and James Freeman of Buckden, obtained the Runner-up positions.

More senior volunteers were also recognised for their role in with the LIVING SPORT Services to Sport award celebrating years of dedication to make sport happen in their communities. Nancy Riach won the top prize for over 50 years of devotion to sport in the County after playing an integral role of supporting Huntingdon Tennis Club in addition to developing school-club links from her extra-curricular work as a PE teacher. Three runner-ups were identified for their services too; England Netball’s Golden Globe winner Andrea Eggleton, former-Cambridge United Vice Chairman and cricket enthusiast Tony Douglas, and Archery devotee Anna Grantham.

The Matthew Warn Power of Sport award, for projects that have made a real impact on the local community by addressing the needs of under-represented groups, was given to the Cambridge Sport Lakes Trust based at Milton Country Park, with the County’s Ability PLUS Group and South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Adult Friendly Netball League being pipped to the post.

The Coaching: HQ Coach of the Year accolade was presented to Cambridge Triathlon Club’s Head Coach Tim Williams, for his continued work with all levels of athletes. Williams, a runner-up of the award in 2010, is currently coaching Olympic silver medalist Emma Pooley in the run-up to London 2012 and beat Peterborough Swimming Club’s Head Coach Ben Negus and Marc Holdsworth to the prize. The coaches and young sports performer have strong links this year, with Williams, Negus and Holdsworth the club coaches for Georgina Schwiening, Liam Knight and Daniel Goodfellow respectively. Cambridge and Coleridge Athletics Club, which hosts several of the county’s stars including Charlotte Cox, scooped the Volac Community Club of the Year honor for 2011. C&CAC narrowly overcame Comberton Netball Club and Hunts County Squash Club.

The final two awards, which were by no means least, were claimed by Cambridge Dive Team and the Jack Hunt School. Cambridge Dive won the Progress Team of the Year award for their success stars at the European Junior Elite Championships and their established Development Centre which attracts over 200 members from the community. The City of Ely Bowls Team and City of Cambridge Swimming Club’s Disability Squad were the other finalists for the award. Jack Hunt School in Peterborough beat the primary schools of Swavesey and St Laurence in Cambridge to the Luminus School of the Year title, due to the tremendous success of their sporting working the school and local community.

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