The best and brightest of the county’s sporting talent gathered in Forfar for the 21st Angus Sports Awards.
The dinner and ceremony, hosted by Angus Alive, celebrated the success of people, teams and clubs in 2016.
Eilish McColgan, fresh from a 3,000m bronze at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Belgrade on Sunday, brought her new gong along to cheer on nominees at the Reid Hall.
Martial artist Catriona Steele, the mum of four who took two golds at the TaeKwon-Do world cup, won the Sports Personality of the Year award.
The shortlisted nominees were Andrew Woodroffe and Jonny O’Mara.
Catriona, from Edzell, collected her award with great emotion, saying: “I’m completely overwhelmed by this, here with some incredible sports guys and I’m just a mum.”
Brechin Beavers Swimming Club, which celebrated their 40th anniversary in the same year they won ACE Gold award and SwiMark accreditation, took the new Club of the Year award. Other clubs shortlisted were Carnoustie Panmure Football Club and Arbroath Shotokan Karate Club.
Gemma Lumsdaine of Dundee Dragons Wheelchair Sports Club picked up the Sports Personality of the Year award for people with a disability. She was part of the winning Scottish Wheelchair Basketball team who competed in the Celtic Cup U23. Other shortlisted finalists were Courtney Bernard and Greg Clark.
Young Sports Personality of the Year went to Joel McFarlane of Arbroath and District Athletics Club. Joel is ranked first in Britain in the U17 age group for decathlon and pentathlon, winning seven Scottish titles and two British titles in decathlon last year. Other shortlisted finalists were Sophie Smith and Sandy Mitchell.
Club Volunteer of the Year was won by Lynda Sim of Arbroath and District
Netball Club, who has guided U17 and U15 teams to national competitions, developed an over-17 team for the Dundee Ladies League, and has been instrumental in setting up centres for the club in Montrose and Monifieth. The two shortlisted nominees were Murray Dalgety and Mary Towns.
Arbroath High School’s open girls’ basketball team was crowned Team of the Year after winning the Scottish Cup by beating Portobello High School in the dying minutes of the game. Other shortlisted finalists were Tayside Dynamos Powerchair Football Club and Links Park Community Trust’s Montrose Walking Football Team.
Scott Haxton of Arbroath St Thomas Swimming Club was named Coach of the Year.
He commits approximately 16 hours per week on poolside coaching the
performance swimmers at the club, in addition to maintaining links with the development and intermediate squads. Other short listed finalists were Robert Christie and Garry Johnston.
School Sport Volunteer of the Year went to Chris Kettles, who has
developed football participation with seven primary schools in the Kirriemuir cluster. Also shortlisted was Caroline Kerr and Kelvin Walling.
The Service to Sport Award went to Rhona Alston of Montrose Tennis Club. Rhona has held many roles at the club, was recently elected president of Tennis Tayside, and will continue her development of tennis across the region. Also shortlisted was Philip Hope and Elinor Phillips.
A spokesman for the trust said: “Angus Alive would like to thank all sponsors for their support of the Angus Sports Awards and hope all the nominees across each of the categories a hugely successful 2017.”
