The Nottinghamshire Sport Awards celebrated its 25th year at the Nottinghamshire Conference Centre last night (Wednesday February 1).
Presented by Notts TV’s Iain Chambers and Kate Chaplin, the awards recognise the best of Nottinghamshire sport, from elite athletes to local clubs and community volunteers.
Decided by a public vote, Helen Richardson-Walsh MBE was named Sportsperson of the Year.
2017 Nottinghamshire Sport Awards winners:
- Sportsperson of the year: Helen Richardson-Walsh MBE
- Disabled sportsperson of the year: Ollie Hynd MBE
- Junior sportsperson of the year: Ellie Downie
- Junior disabled sportsperson of the year: Benjamin Foulston
- Volunteer of the year: Lyndon Stocks
- Junior volunteer of the year: Lauren King
- Coach of the year – community: Mark Dobb
- Coach of the year – performance: Glenn Smith
- Young coach of the year: Josh Champion
- Team of the year: Uni of Nottingham Table Tennis
- Junior team of the year: Newark U15 Girls Rugby Team
- Sporting primary school of the year: Radcliffe on Trent Junior School
- Sporting secondary school of the year: West Bridgford School
- Club of the year: Nottingham RC
- Sporting project of the year: Broxtowe Girls Can
- Community champion of the year: Marcellus Baz
- Roll of honour: Anthony Lorrimer
Addressing the audience via video, she said: “I am extremely proud and honoured to be receiving this award, the strength and depth of every single nominee is incredible so to be amongst them is fantastic.
“I can definitely see many more Olympic medallists in that group so I wish them all the best of luck.
“And I just want to say thank you to Notts for being such an incredible county in all of its sporting prowess.”
The winner of the Sportsperson of the Year award – Helen Richardson-Walsh MBE! @h_richardson8 #NottsSportsAwards pic.twitter.com/N8HigkVh83
— Notts TV (@Notts_TV) 1 February 2017
Helen Richardson-Walsh MBE: Sportsperson of the Year 2017
Helen started her hockey career at West Bridgford hockey club and has played for her country for many years. Helen was a key part of the GB team that secured a stunning Gold medal in the Rio Olympics, scoring one of the crucial penalties in the deciding shoot-out against the Netherlands in the final. Helen now plays for HC Bloemendaal in the Netherlands.
For a record fourth successive year, Ollie Hynd MBE was named Disabled Sportsperson of the Year.
Although the British swimmer could not be there to collect his award, he thanked his fans on Twitter.
Ollie Hynd: Disabled Sportsperson of the Year 2017
At the Rio Paralympics this year, Ollie won a Gold Medal in the 400m freestyle S8 Category, breaking the World Record. He also won a Gold Medal in the SM8 200m Individual Medley, breaking the World Record. In the S8 Category 100m backstroke he won a Silver Medal and breaking the British Record. At IPC European Championships Ollie won three gold medals, in the S8 400m, Freestyle SM8 200m Medley and S8 100m Backstroke. Ollie also won silver S8 100m Freestyle and sliver in the 34 point 4×100 Freestyle Team Race.
Ellie Downie was also named Junior Sports Person of the Year for the fourth year in a row.
The winner of the Junior Sportsperson of the Year – @elliedownie! #NottsSportsAwards pic.twitter.com/L5pnIod720
— Notts TV (@Notts_TV) 1 February 2017
Two awards made their debut this year with Sporting Primary and Secondary School of the Year being introduced.
Winner of the Sporting Primary School went to Radcliffe-on-Trent Junior School with West Bridgford School picking up the Sporting Secondary School award.
