North East Disability Sports Awards
News Presenter Ian Payne hosted this year's North East Disability Sports Awards held at The Durham Centre on Wednesday 22 February to recognise and celebrate the achievements of individuals and clubs from across the region. Ian was supported by Mike Crawshaw, Head of Cultural Services at Darlington Borough Council who presented the Young Male Achiever Award.
Over 140 guests attended the celebration, including Paralympian and World Champion, Stephen Miller, to watch six sports awards being presented at this year's awards celebration.
The event was organised by the regional County Sports Partnerships, supported by the English Federation of Disability Sport and D&P Trophies.
Jean Lordon, Executive Director of Tees Valley Sport said: "These awards are a fantastic way to celebrate the successes of our disabled sports stars in the North East. The awards are also a great opportunity to acknowledge some of the excellent work that clubs, organisations and individual volunteers do in the region."
Please click here to view some photographs taken at the Awards.
The results of the awards were as follows:
Female Personality - Charlotte Ellis
Charlotte is a dedicated Triathlete who competes all over the world and became a member of the British Triathlon elite squad. She is a member of Cleveland Triathlon Club and won Gold at the World Triathlon Championships and European Championships.
Male Personality - William Smith
William competes in Badminton on an international stage and has world rankings of 6 for Men's Singles and 7 for Men's Doubles. He won medals at every major tournament that he competed in during 2011, with his highlights being a silver medal in the singles and doubles competitions in the Four Nations tournament in Scotland in February, a silver medal in the singles and a bronze in the doubles at the German Open in June.
Young Female Achiever - Stephanie Moore
Stephanie is the current U17 National Champion for the 100m and 200m and the UK school Games long jump champion for athletes with a learning disability. She has also started to volunteer at The Cedars Sports College to help other young athletes. She will make her international debut at the World Indoor Championships in Manchester this year.
Young Male Achiever - Matthew Wylie
Matthew is a multi event swimmer over long and short course, at local, national and international level and is the current short course 1500m freestyle world record holder. He is ranked 1st in Britain at 50m and 400m Freestyle and 200m Individual Medley.
Club of the Year Award - Gateshead Kestrels Disability Sports Club
They provide high quality sporting opportunities for 70 children and young adults with physical, sensory and learning disabilities who live and / or are educated in the Gateshead area. Activities including swimming, athletics, boccia and trampolining are delivered on five nights a week, at weekends as well as through a variety of residential experiences.
Service to Sport Award - Laszlo Jakab
Laszlo is a naturalised Hungarian fencing master who has been living in Durham since 1996. He has been working with the British Disabled Fencing Association as head coach and coach education for wheelchair fencing, training disabled athletes from grass roots to Paralympians. His Paralympic involvement continues tirelessly preparing wheelchair fencers towards London 2012, requiring him to travel throughout the UK and internationally for training and competitions. His work is nearly all voluntary. He not only works with British squads he also encourages and coaches North East disabled residents of all ages, the skills of fencing and how simple abilities can overcome disabilities, enabling anybody to enjoy an exciting physical activity.
