The spotlight shone on the field of sporting excellence in the 16th annual Angus Sports Awards this week.
A gathering in Forfar’s Reid Hall on Tuesday once again highlighted the depth of sporting talent in the district as well as the breadth of achievement from local to global level.
International curler Greg Drummond swept to glory in the roll of honour after being revealed as the Angus Sports Personality of the Year following a remarkable run of success last year, which he aims to carry through this year and beyond.
Just turned 23, Greg has been a Scottish Junior runner-up, Men’s Champion and World Champion runner-up under the Team Brewster outfit alongside Tom Brewster, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow.
Fotheringham Curling Club member Greg also represented Great Britain at the Winter Universiade in the Turkish city of Erzurum early last year.
Another highlight for the former Forfar Young Curler was the capture of the highly prized Continental cup, contested annually by North America against The World.
Greg’s sights are now set on winning gold at the 2012 World Championship at St Jakobshall, Switzerland.
They get under way at the end of this month and Team Brewster will carry the Saltire after booking the world ticket with a Scottish championship triumph over David Smith’s rink last month.
The Angus curler and his team-mates are also working towards GB selection for the Winter Olympics in 2014.
This week’s honour for Greg follows other awards on the back of the rink’s prolific 2011 performances, including a curling category trophy in the British Olympic Association (BOA) Athlete of the Year event.
In the Young Sports Personality of the Year category, 18-year-old golfer Ailsa Summers led an impressive field of nominees.
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A junior member of Carnoustie Ladies Golf Club and currently playing off scratch, her 2011 highlights included representing Scotland at U-18 level and being a reserve for the Scottish Ladies European Tour team in Austria.
The winner of the Angus Ladies County Championship for the last three years, Ailsa also holds the ladies course record over the Carnoustie Championship course.
The category attracted 14 nominations and the other shortlisted finalists were Kelly Clark (football) and basketball players Nicky Sim and Yhana Van Wees.
Tayside Musketeers Cadet Men Under 16 basketball outfit took the team award.
They have eight Scottish internationalists within their ranks and in 2011 were the first team in the region for 10 years to win the National League Division one title.
Arbroath United Cricket Club 1st XI and Arbroath High School S1 Girls Netball Team were also shortlisted.
The Coach of the Year award went to Paul Boath of Tayside Musketeers Basketball Club, who has coached 11 Scotland internationalists from under 13 to under 16 levels and led the Cadet Men’s team to major 2011 triumphs. Paul is also Scotland under-14 coach and a personal 2011 highlight was being named Performance Development Coach of the region and Coach of the Year for Basketball Scotland.
Shortlisted category finalists were Fraser Burnett (swimming), Calum Owens (rugby) and Marion Durham (swimming).
Ian Bradford of Tayside Special Olympics won the Sports Personality of the Year for People with a Disability award after winning gold and silver table tennis medals for Great Britain at last summer’s World Games.
Neil Grant (football) and Jamie Black (ten pin bowling) were also shortlisted.
The Service to Sport award winner was Neil Valentine of Forfar Amateur Swimming Club, who started on poolside with the club over 20 years ago, rising to his 2011 appointment as President of Scottish Swimming, the sport’s national governing body. Laura Smith (Special Olympics) and Yvonne Robertson (rugby) were shortlisted in the category.
Modern pentathlete and former Angus Sports Personality of the Year Louise Helyer was guest speaker for the ceremony, organised by Angus Council sports development team in association with the Angus Ahead marketing campaign.
Sports development officer Laura Baxter said: ”All of the award nominees and winners are proactively representing Angus and we are delighted to be highlighting the positive features that sport and physical activity can bring to Angus.”
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