Sports Council Awards recognise outstanding local talent and dedication.
The dedication and achievements of the local sporting community were celebrated this evening at the Alnwick and District Sports Council’s annual awards ceremony at Alnwick Playhouse.
Special guest was Allison Curbishley, former Olympic, European and Commonwealth Games athlete who is now a BBC sports commentator. Allison acknowledged her sporting heroes as she addressed the audience and then interviewed some of the local sporting heroes during the awards ceremony.
Duchess’s Community High School students Thomas Gladstone and Maddy McKay took to the stage to read out the nominations.
In the first category, Junior Female, these were Annabelle Gray who has had outstanding equestrian success . Her achievements include two regional wins and three regional placings in 2023, a National Individual First Place in the National Schools Equestrian Association 2023 Finals and becoming a national champion. She has travelled over a thousand miles with her pony “Hawkmoon Lady Luck”.
Emilia Waugh, 12, from Lesbury, is a very talented athlete specialising in the Triathlon. For her age, she is the number 1 ranked triathlete in the Northeast region and was undefeated in the region in the whole of 2023 with 4 victories. Emilia’s talent is also evident in individual sports. In athletics she was a bronze Medallist in the Northeast Regional Cross-Country Championships, a Bronze Medallist in the Northumberland Schools Cross Country Championships and was the winner of the North Northumberland schools 1500 metres. In swimming, she qualified the for Northumberland and Durham County swimming championships at multiple distances.
Matilda Wilson is a talented young Alnwick Dolphin swimmer who is ranked number 1 in the County and is in the Top 20 in Great Britain for her age group for the 200 metres Breaststroke. At the North East region championships in Sheffield, she won gold in the 100 metre individual medley. Matilda is talented at all four swimming strokes and holds a number of club records including the 800 metres freestyle. In this event she beat the club record that had stood for 18 years. She also helped Whittingham Primary School qualify for the 1st time in their history for the English Schools Swim Championships. Matilda has achieved this despite being only 4ft 8ins tall and often racing against much taller competitors.
The Winner of the 2023 Junior Female award was Annabelle Grey who is pictured with Mike Telfer on behalf of sponsors Lilburns and Allison Curbishley.
Next was the Junior Male award. Nominees were:
Alnwick Dolphin Sandy Brown. At the 2023 regional swimming championships he bagged a bronze medal in the 200 metre Front Crawl and also smashed a 26-year-old club record for the 800 metre Front Crawl, set by the legend Mark Brittian and in the process clocked a top 50 swim time in the UK. Sandy has top 100 swims in 10 separate events, 5 of which were top 50 efforts. He has been recognised as a future talent and has been selected to be part of the regional talent camp, the first Alnwick Dolphin ever to achieve this.
Sixteen years old Archie Cook from Lesbury is a talented golfer who is a member of the Goswick and Alnmouth Foxton Golf Clubs. He is studying at Merchiston Castle School in Scotland and also plays golf there and is in the school elite squad. In August, he won the Faldo Series in Wales, and the North of England Boys Open. He also was capped by Scotland Under 16’s and was selected as the captain for matches in Holland against Ireland, Wales and the Netherlands. He was also a junior tour Scotland Ambassador. Archie is currently in the Under 18 Scottish Performance squad for 2023/24. In 2023, Archie’s average round score was 73.4 and his handicap an incredible plus 1. Now studying A levels, he has his eye set on a golf scholarship to America.
Cameron Cullen excels at both Rugby League and Rugby Union. It was the professional manner that Rugby League brings that has enabled him to develop his Rugby Union skills. In Rugby Union he plays for the Alnwick Colts and he was also selected for the Northumberland County Under 17 team. In Rugby League he plays for Cramlington Rockets and the Newcastle Thunder Under 17 Academy. In 2023 he was capped by Scotland and he has recently signed for Leigh Leopards.
The Winner of the 2023 Junior Male award was Archie Cook who was presented with his trophy by Andrew Robson on behalf of the award’s sponsor His Grace the Duke of Northumberland.
The Junior Achievement Award was won by Cameron Cullen who is seen with John Humphries from sponsors Alnwick Rotary Club.
There were two nominees in the Junior Team category.
The Duchess’s Community High School Equestrian Team is a seven-strong group comprising of Annabelle, William, Poppy, Ellie, Eve, Frankie and Lucy. They had a remarkable twelve regional wins in 2023 however, their greatest achievement came in October when they went completely above and beyond expectation by coming home from the Addington Championships as champions in the National Schools Equestrian Association showjumping 1.05 metre event with all team members jumping at various heights. This was a great result for a High School in a rural area, competing in a forum of state, public and private school teams. The team underwent a whole year of intensive training and tirelessly gaining qualification tickets, both locally and regionally travelling over a thousand miles.
Whittingham Primary School Swimming Team has five who qualified for the English Schools Swimming Association, Primary School Swim Championships in Sheffield. They did this by winning their heat at The Royal Grammar School in Newcastle against other schools from the North East. The final was at Sheffield and the children got to swim in front of a huge audience with International flags flying and the British anthem sung. With teams in both the Medley and Freestyle events in the small schools section they came 20th and 19th overall which was a really great result. Well done to Matilda, Lucca, Eliza, Pip, and Evie.
The Winner of the 2023 Junior Team award, sponsored by The Alnwick Medical Group was the DCHS Equestrian Team and they were presented with their trophy by Dr Graham Syers.
The Sports Council were also very impressed with the achievement of the Whittingham Primary School Swimming Team who are seen with Allison Curbishley.
There were four contenders for the Most Improved Sports Person Award:
This year Harriet Oldfield has made the transition from a county medallist in the pool, to a medallist at the Regional North East Championships achieving 2 golds, a silver and a bronze. She followed this up by qualifying for the Scottish and English national championships. Harriet’s breadth of skill in all strokes has seen her post top 100 UK times for her age group in an astonishing 22 separate events.
The three other contenders – Sandy Brown, Emilia Waugh and Matilda Wilson – have had their achievements listed previously.
Harriet Oldfield and Emilia Waugh were declared Joint winners of the 2023 Most Improved Sports Person award and they are seen with Councillor Jeff Watson from sponsors Northumberland County Council.
The winner of the Sports Council 2023 Special Achievement Award was Gill Castle.
Gill Castle suffered a birth trauma in 2011 which resulted in her losing her job, suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and needing a stoma. Gill has turned the negative into a positive and she now raises awareness of birth trauma and stoma and lives life as a “can do” person. She fundraises through various activities such as doing an Iron Man, sky diving, kayaking and open water swimming. In 2022 she founded a charity called Chameleon Buddies raising awareness of child birth defects and trauma. Gill has also twice been to Kenya to improve the conditions for many women there with stomas and to increase their awareness that life can continue as normal.
After training for 3 years, on 12 th September 2023, Gill became the first ever person to swim the English Channel wearing a stoma bag. Her exceptional time for the 21 mile crossing from Dover to Calais was 13 hours and 53 minutes. Most of the swim took place at night.
Gill has raised over £50,000 for her charity from the swim. Gill was unable to attend the award ceremony, so her mother Sally Harrison collected the award from Allison Curbishley.
Next, Volunteer of the Year where the nominees were:
Sharon Crisp who joined Hybrid Kickboxing Amble in 2019 to lose weight and learn a new skill. Since joining she has lost some 5 stones and has become an important member of the team. Sharon not only helps coach the fitness and kickboxing classes, but helps maintain the cleanliness of the gym, takes care of some of the advertising on social media and is always on hand to transport team members to other training sessions and interclub bouts. In 2023, Sharon started a ladies fitness class at the club. She has also completed the instructor training course and has now qualified as a WKO judge.
George Curry is a fantastic club volunteer at Alnmouth Lesbury Cricket Club. Whether its drainage work, grass cutting or catching moles, George is your man! He also excels being in charge of the club BBQ. George is also a leading figure at any club events which require catering. What is also impressive, is that George will be 80 in 2024.
James Milligan is a dedicated volunteer at Alnwick Town Juniors Football Club and fulfils a number of different roles. Despite working full time, he finds time to manage and help with two junior teams. In addition, he cuts all the grass at Greensfield and marks the pitches for Saturday and Sunday games. In the summer he cuts the grass and marks numerous pitches for the clubs junior summer football tournament. Because of his help, the club has a very good reputation for having great pitches to play on. James was presented with the Eric Hately Award for ‘Clubman of the Year’ in 2023.
Mike Samuels is an incredibly dedicated volunteer at the Alnwick Dolphins Swimming Club. He is the Club Chairman and is also the coach of the competition squad and the enduro squad. He is a great advocate for including everyone of mixed abilities and mixed ambitions. To this end he set up the enduro squad for those slightly older swimmers who do not want to pursue performance level swimming but want to stay fit and enjoy swimming. Mike dedicates 8-10 hours a week coaching swimmers and in addition puts in further hours of administrative work in his role as chairman.
The Winner of the 2023 Volunteer of the Year award was Mike Samuels who is seen with Robert Cook from sponsors The Cookie Jar.
There were two nominations for Senior Female award:
Alnwick Harrier Carole Page is a world class masters athlete in the female 60-64 age group. She specializes in 5 kilometre and 10 kilometre running, and once again she has had another fabulous year with many category wins in North East Road Races. However, the highlight of Carole’s year was on the cross-country circuit where she triumphed to take the F60 British Championship title in Wallsend at the end of the 2022/23 season. Carole started the 2023/24 cross-country season by earning selection to the England team. She was the second counter for the England team who claimed the team gold medal in the F60 category and also claimed a national silver medal at the British Masters 10 kilometre Road Championships. By the end of 2023, Carole had completed over 230 Parkruns at Druridge.
Helen Waugh, racing for Alnwick Harriers, took a stunning 5th place at the British Athletics Marathon Championships in the female V45 race at the London Marathon in April, narrowly missing the podium. A time of 2 hours 50 minutes and 45 seconds placed Helen 5th in the end of year British rankings in her age group and in the process saw her gain qualification for the World Marathon Majors Championships in Sydney in 2024. Helen now sits 19th on the UK all-time list for female V45 marathon runners. This is incredible achievement for a working mum of two who also dedicates hours every week as a volunteer coach at Alnwick Dolphins swimming club. Helen also took a podium finish in a triathlon in France in July and completed an Ironman distance triathlon in 9 hours 57 minutes and in the process finished with a podium finish at Challenge Roth, the biggest triathlon in the World.
The Senior Female award, sponsored by Total Flooring, went to Carole Page.
Carol was unable to attend the award ceremony.
The nominees for the Senior Male award were:
Rob Andrew who represented Alnwick Harriers and England at several events nationally and internationally. Rob was selected for the Great Britain 4 x 800 metres Male 60 relay team that made an attempt at the age group world record in Redditch in August. Whilst they beat the world record by 7 seconds a team from Canada posted a slightly faster time. Rob finished the season with a 4th place finish in the 800 metres at the European Championships missing out on a medal by 0.2 of a second. Rob also finished 2023 ranked 2nd in the UK for the 800 metres and is now in the top 10 all-time forthe Male 60 age-group. Even more impressive, Rob finished 2023 ranked 2 nd in the Male 60 category for the mile and is now ranked the 3rd all-time in the UK.
Nick Biggers is an Alnwick Harrier who started running in 2021. He entered his first competitive races last year where he posted a 5 kilometre best time of 18 minutes and 49 seconds and a time of 86 minutes and 21 seconds at the Great North Run half marathon. However, it was 2023 that saw Nick achieve significant gains in his running, when he improved his 5 kilometre time by a full 2 minutes. At the Edinburgh half-marathon in May, he also improved his half marathon time by almost 7 minutes. Nick’s improvement was also demonstrated by him breaking 60 minutes for the 10 mile distance and going under 5 minutes for the mile, these are considered significant benchmarks for these distances. Nick’s 4 minutes and 54 seconds in the mile ranks him 167th in the UK for 2023. Nick has also represented Alnwick Harriers at fell running events.
Christopher Calvert is a talented triathlete who competes in the 60-64 age group and has competed in 4World and European championships in 2023. These were in Venice where he competed in the European duathlon (which is a run and bike race) and in Hamburg, for the world sprint triathlon. In September he competed in Pontevedra in Spain for the world super sprint triathlon where he finished 17 th in his age group and then in the same weekend, he raced again in the world triathlon standard aquabike championships, which comprise of a swim and bike race, and was placed 20th in his age group.
The winner of the 2023 Senior Male award, sponsored by Amble Town Council, was Rob Andrew.
The Senior Team of the Year award went to Dunstanburgh Castle Golf Club Mens Team who, in 2023, won the North Northumberland Golf League for the first time in their history. The league began in 1949 and in recent years has expanded to now contain 13 clubs. They won the league by 4 points in a nail- biting finish… they needed to win their last match against Linden Hall by a margin of 7-5 but secured a 10-2 victory to clinch the title. The league is a scratch league so players have low handicaps, the Dunstanburgh team having handicaps ranging from +1 to 3. Teams consist of 6 players and a total of 8 players were used in the competition. Special mention was given to Michael Ritson and Craig Hastings who only lost one league game during the season.
Team members are seen being presented with their trophy by the Mayor of Alnwick, Councillor Geoff Watson, who presented the trophy on behalf of sponsors Alnwick Town Council.
The Senior Achievement award was presented to Alnwick Town Ladies Football Club
Their First Team play in the North East Regional Women’s Football League Premier Division, the 5th tier of the women’s pyramid. They are the only team from Northumberland in the league and face teams from as far away as Bradford and Barnsley. Last year was a fantastic year for the team. They finished the 2022/23 season as runners up in their division, an outstanding achievement. The start of the 2023/24 season saw a focus on the Women’s FA Cup with the ladies reaching the Second Round proper of the competition for the first time in their history with victories over South Shields, Colne and Gateshead. This is the first time a team from Northumberland has reached this stage for 19 years. Throughout 2023 the ladies played 27 competitive games, winning 21, drawing 3 and losing only 3.
The Senior Achievement award was presented by Jen Breese from sponsors McDonalds who is seen with Georgia Latto, Jess Morrison and Peter Hately from the club.
Next was the Coach of the year award.
The winner of this award is a coach who received three different nominations which were all equally supportive of the recognition she deserves. She joined the Alnwick Dolphins coaching team in 2016 and coaches 7 days a week, morning and night and has led the club for the last few years. Much of the success of the Alnwick Dolphins can be attributed to the work that she puts as a volunteer and it is through her skills, knowledge, ethos and swim programme that Alnwick has had swimmers to compete against, and beat the best. Never before has the club had regional gold medallists – let alone British Championship qualifiers or England talent camp swimmers. Katy Batley has taken up the challenge to become one of a select number of level 3 coaches in the country, and has also been selected by Swim England to lead their county Talent camp. At the camp she is responsible for helping develop the skills of the brightest swimming talent in the county. A testament to the regard she is held within British swimming.
The 2023 coach of the year award, was presented to Katy Batley by Shirley Pollard from sponsors Greaves Grindle.
There were two nominees for the Services to Sport award.
In 2023, Ian Gray marked around 50 years connection with Warkworth Cricket Club as player then Treasurer and Committee member. Ian was initially a player at Warkworth before coming Treasurer, a role he has held for 35 years. In addition, Ian has been at heart and soul of the club in so many ways and as a volunteer has contributed hugely towards making Warkworth Cricket Club. During the cricket season he will visit the club most days to undertake some volunteer roles that are necessary in the club such as putting the bins out, recycling, reading the metres, stocking and running the bar and giving access to contractors. He also helps with larger club fundraisers such as the annual beer and music festivals and also at the club café which operated for the first time in 2023. The club describe clubman Ian as irreplaceable and thoroughly deserving of recognition.
Tracey Sample from Amble, has a long involvement in coaching, starting in 1987. As coach at Alnwick Tri Club, it is estimated that she has attracted over 3000 people to triathlon. In 2012, she started the Alnwick tri club juniors in conjunction with one keen parent, building on the adults club which she helped initiate in 2004. She has done various jobs on the committee over the years until 2020. In total she coached 3 people who attended the Birmingham Commonwealth Games as athletes in 2022, and one of our current elite female under 23 international cyclocross stars.
In the last 3 years Tracey has been a member of the Regional Committee for Cycling Time Trial and has made some significant contributions to implement a new rules council and helped with the national transgender policy. She is also the Alnwick District Swimming and Lifesaving Club Vice Chair. Over the years she has contributed to the organisation of over 300 races across all the clubs she has been involved with, including the GoTri initiative which received a national prize for 2023 initiative of the year.
Tracey has also succeeded in sport having represented her country a total of 23 times, since 2007. This is in every combination of amateur age group multisport, including triathlon, aquathlon, aquabike, duathlon and cross triathlon.
The winner of the 2023 services to sport award, sponsored by Quotient Sciences, was Tracey Sample.
Club of the year award.
Strong entries were made by a number of clubs.
Alnwick Town Juniors response to the Storm Arwen damage to their facilities is a fantastic example of a club coming together in the face of adversity and it is pleasing that the Clubhouse was fully operational again in May. This year they have also seen the establishment of seven new junior teams, a new partnership with the Newcastle United Foundation and a number of junior players progressing into senior football.
In 2023, the Alnwick Triathlon Club has grown to 90 members and they have raced in 47 venues. They had 8 athletes racing in age group World Championships including Steve Carragher who won gold in the Super Sprint Triathlon in Spain. They also had impressive successes at the European and British Championships and Head Coach Denise Drummond finished in the top 50 athletes in her age group in the World Ironman Championships. The club were also national winners of the 2023 Go Tri Initiative of the Year and the Coquet River sprint triathlon, won the Triathlon England regional award for Small Event of the Year.
But the 2023 Club of the Year award went to a club that:
Was set up nearly 8 years ago and has just over 100 members. 45 of them being under 15. In addition to the normal classes the club organises Home Show events to showcase what it is doing, takes part in inter-club training and inter-club competitions and holds presentation nights, holiday camps and events such as a club members Christmas party. Earlier this year they also put on CPR and defibrillator training, which as well as being for the club, was opened up to the community.
The club has a great Facebook site with an impressive 3,200 followers, which is amazing for a small club. Part of the club ethos is to provide a safe place for everyone to train where there will be no judgement, just a big support network.
They run kickboxing classes 2 evenings a week for three different age groups and fitness classes on a further 2 nights. In 2023, they also introduced a Ladies only fitness class. Three of the coaching team Adam, Alan and Sharon are also World Kickboxing Organisation Officials.
The winners of the 2023 club of the year award, sponsored by Blackshaws was…Hybrid Kickboxing Amble. They are seen with sponsor Will Blackshaw.
Alnwick Town Mayor, Councillor Geoff Watson concluded “This was a fantastic evening, giving due recognition to our local sporting heroes. On behalf of Alnwick Town Council who are the main sponsors of the event, I congratulate Alnwick and District Sports Council for organising such a wonderful event and all the nominees – we are lucky to have such a breadth of talent in the area.”
