Annual Sports Awards 2012
What have Strawdolls to do with sport? Steve Welti gave an inspiring talk to representatives from a wide range of sports at the Oswestry Sports Awards this year. As Guest Speaker, he also presented the trophies to the winners.
The winners were as follows:
Disability Sport Award – donated by North Shropshire Special Olympics awarded to Gavin Ryan, North Shropshire Special Olympics. Gavin has been a keen member of NSSO for many years and, now in his forties, he has just learnt to swim.
Veteran Sports Award – donated by Border Counties Advertizer awarded to Steve Roberts, Oswestry Olympians. Steve took up running when he quit smoking in 2002 and trained consistently ever since. In the last year, he has come in the top 3 of his age group for 1500m, 3000m and 5000m on the track, Cross-country, Fell races, 10km, Half marathon and full marathon races and he has just qualified for the World Duathlon Championships in Nancy, France.
The Contribution to Sport Award was hotly contested between two Oswestry Olympians.
Tracy Bathers, took over the Junior section of the club from Arnie Wray and has steered it through difficult times, through lack of a running track. The Juniors are very strong and Tracy has coached some of them to be top-class athletes. Ian Watkins was nominated for his Friday night runs in Ellesmere, which he has organised without missing a week, for nearly 10 years. Ian also helps the Senior section of Oswestry Olympians with every race they hold and was Senior Membership Secretary for several years. Ian Watkins was awarded the Contribution to Sport trophy for this year.
Coach of the Year Award had five nominees:
Natalie Bathers, for her work with the Oswestry Olympians Juniors.
Timothy Craven, for developing the Karate skills of the members of Kempo Karate Club
Benji Evans, for his Basketball coaching for North Shropshire Special Olympics
Dorothy Thomas, for coaching North Shropshire Special Olympics in swimming and for ensuring the safety of the members in the pool.
Elaine Trevor-Jones, for her coaching at Berwyn & Dee Pony Club
The committee votes were too close and the award was presented jointly to Natalie Bathers and Tim Craven.
Junior Team Award: – donated and presented by Christine Hughes, was won by Kempo Karate Club Team, comprising Joshua Boyd, Aaron Johnson, Luke Johnson & Callum Jones. The team have competed in numerous regional, national & international competitions and have qualified for the AMA World Championships next year. The runners up were Oswestry Team Tennis Girls Team, Emily Day, Kayleigh Hughes, Hannah Lloyd & Kate Roberts, who started in Division 7 and have won promotion every year. In 2011 they won promotion to Shropshire Ladies Summer League Division 4, playing against adult teams with much more league experience that the girls have.
Outstanding Sporting Achievement Award – sponsored by Richard Burbidge was awarded to Dan Jones, of Oswestry Otters Swimming Club. Dan has continued to train and compete with utmost dedication, winning most of the many competitions he enters and often breaking the course record in the process. At only 15 years of age, Dan competed at the London Olympic aquatic centre and achieved Olympic qualifying times in two events. The runner up was Cameron Dixon, Oswestry Olympians, who achieved a Bronze medal in the UK Schools Under-17s 400m Hurdles and he was ranked 6th in the UK for U-17s 400m Hurdles – a real achievement. Cameron continues to train hard and is a role model for the other members of the club.
The Oswestry Lifetime Achievement Award – donated by Oswestry Boys & Girls Club, was presented by the Chair of Oswestry & District Sports Council, Val Hanover, to Christine Barre for her work over so many years for Border Counties School of Gymnastics. Christine founded the Gym Club in 1991 and it has grown rapidly to over 400 members today, from toddlers to adults. Christine handed over the reins to her daughter, Helene, about 10 years ago but Christine has continued to help with club admin and looked after the needs of all the club members and their parents, some of whom learnt gymnastics in the Gym Club’s early days.
Disability Sport Award – donated by North Shropshire Special Olympics awarded to Gavin Ryan, North Shropshire Special Olympics. Gavin has been a keen member of NSSO for many years and, now in his forties, he has just learnt to swim.
Veteran Sports Award – donated by Border Counties Advertizer awarded to Steve Roberts, Oswestry Olympians. Steve took up running when he quit smoking in 2002 and trained consistently ever since. In the last year, he has come in the top 3 of his age group for 1500m, 3000m and 5000m on the track, Cross-country, Fell races, 10km, Half marathon and full marathon races and he has just qualified for the World Duathlon Championships in Nancy, France.
The Contribution to Sport Award was hotly contested between two Oswestry Olympians.
Tracy Bathers, took over the Junior section of the club from Arnie Wray and has steered it through difficult times, through lack of a running track. The Juniors are very strong and Tracy has coached some of them to be top-class athletes. Ian Watkins was nominated for his Friday night runs in Ellesmere, which he has organised without missing a week, for nearly 10 years. Ian also helps the Senior section of Oswestry Olympians with every race they hold and was Senior Membership Secretary for several years. Ian Watkins was awarded the Contribution to Sport trophy for this year.
Coach of the Year Award had five nominees:
Natalie Bathers, for her work with the Oswestry Olympians Juniors.
Timothy Craven, for developing the Karate skills of the members of Kempo Karate Club
Benji Evans, for his Basketball coaching for North Shropshire Special Olympics
Dorothy Thomas, for coaching North Shropshire Special Olympics in swimming and for ensuring the safety of the members in the pool.
Elaine Trevor-Jones, for her coaching at Berwyn & Dee Pony Club
The committee votes were too close and the award was presented jointly to Natalie Bathers and Tim Craven.
Junior Team Award: – donated and presented by Christine Hughes, was won by Kempo Karate Club Team, comprising Joshua Boyd, Aaron Johnson, Luke Johnson & Callum Jones. The team have competed in numerous regional, national & international competitions and have qualified for the AMA World Championships next year. The runners up were Oswestry Team Tennis Girls Team, Emily Day, Kayleigh Hughes, Hannah Lloyd & Kate Roberts, who started in Division 7 and have won promotion every year. In 2011 they won promotion to Shropshire Ladies Summer League Division 4, playing against adult teams with much more league experience that the girls have.
Outstanding Sporting Achievement Award – sponsored by Richard Burbidge was awarded to Dan Jones, of Oswestry Otters Swimming Club. Dan has continued to train and compete with utmost dedication, winning most of the many competitions he enters and often breaking the course record in the process. At only 15 years of age, Dan competed at the London Olympic aquatic centre and achieved Olympic qualifying times in two events. The runner up was Cameron Dixon, Oswestry Olympians, who achieved a Bronze medal in the UK Schools Under-17s 400m Hurdles and he was ranked 6th in the UK for U-17s 400m Hurdles – a real achievement. Cameron continues to train hard and is a role model for the other members of the club.
The Oswestry Lifetime Achievement Award – donated by Oswestry Boys & Girls Club, was presented by the Chair of Oswestry & District Sports Council, Val Hanover, to Christine Barre for her work over so many years for Border Counties School of Gymnastics. Christine founded the Gym Club in 1991 and it has grown rapidly to over 400 members today, from toddlers to adults. Christine handed over the reins to her daughter, Helene, about 10 years ago but Christine has continued to help with club admin and looked after the needs of all the club members and their parents, some of whom learnt gymnastics in the Gym Club’s early days.
Steve Roberts
Ian Watkins
Tim Craven - Natalie Bathers
Junior Team Award - Kempo Karate
The Pedigree function room was packed with swimmers, runners, martial arts fighters, tennis players, Special Olympians and a range of other sports men and women to find out who had won the Oswestry Sports Awards for their achievements over the last year.
Oswestry & District Sports Council is delighted to be able to recognise the achievements and dedication of all the nominees for the Oswestry Sports Awards. The Lady Mayoress attended the Awards Evening and congratulated the nominees, their clubs and their parents for their dedication to sport in Oswestry.
Oswestry & District Sports Council is delighted to be able to recognise the achievements and dedication of all the nominees for the Oswestry Sports Awards. The Lady Mayoress attended the Awards Evening and congratulated the nominees, their clubs and their parents for their dedication to sport in Oswestry.
Steve Welti (left) with Gavin Ryan
Dan Jones
Christine Barre (centre)