The 2000 Sport Award Winners
Service to Sport
The winner of this award has made a significant contribution to the sport of volleyball in Falkirk, and indeed in Scotland. He started as coach to the Falkirk Volleyball Club’s 2nd team before taking over the first and then taking them into the Scottish first division. There they held their own, despite being by far the youngest team in the top league. The national side has capped five of this team and he too was invited to join the Scottish set up as a coach. He is currently the coach to Scotland’s Junior Men and assistant coach to the senior men in addition to continuing his work with his club.
Award was Craig Faill
Scottish Local Service to Sport Award
Mr. David Arnott, Secretary of SALCS and a Sportscotland Council member, presented this award to Craig Faill on behalf of SALCS and Sportscotland
Team Award
The winners of the team award are three ladies who took Scottish and British titles last year. Having won the Scottish Indoor Bowling Triples title they went on to represent Scotland in the British Isles championships in Belfast, where they also won. The team comprises Jane Brooksby, May Townsley and Liz Wren, all of Falkirk Indoor Bowling Club.
The winners of the team award were the
Falkirk Bowling Club Ladies Indoor Triples
Veteran
The winner of the veteran award was a three time Scottish champion last year, taking gold in the Shot Putt, Discus and Hammer. She went on to the British championships, taking bronze in the Discus.
The winner of the Veteran Award was Sandra Logan
Club
The winners of the club award didn’t just feature in the medals at Scottish or even British Championships, but also on the world stage. At the Scottish Tug of War championships teams from the club won at 560 kg, 600 kg and 640 kg while also taking silver at 480 kg. At the UK championships it was silver in the 600 kg division and bronze at 640 kg at the world championships.
Members of the club made up a large part of the Scottish squad that returned from the world indoor championships having retained their title at 640 kg and taking bronze at 560kg, 600 kg and 680 kg.
The winners of the Club Award
were
Bo’ ness Recreation Centre Tug Of War Club
Cadet
The Cadet, or U14 Award, was as hard fought as ever this year. One of the great pleasures of this job is to watch some of the past winners at U14 go on to full Scottish and even British Senior honours.
In 3rd place is a young lady who has broken down a few barriers, although since her sport is karting I hope not too literally. She is the first female to achieve 1st place in the Scottish Championships in her age group and the only female to have won the NKRC championship and the Honda Winter Series. She raced all over the UK last year, competing in 38 races and taking home 30 trophies.
In 3rd Place was Carol Brown
In joint 2nd place, we firstly have another young lady who gets round in her sport on four legs instead of four wheels. As well as winning yet more show pony championships and Supreme Championships she has ridden for Scotland and won in open competition against others twice her age and more. This year she has added show jumping to her success story becoming part of the Scottish team in that sport too.
In joint 2nd Place was Jemma Kirk
Also in 2nd Place is a young man who has also become a Scottish Internationalist this year, but in the sport of judo. Winning gold in the Scottish U18 championships he went down to Crystal Palace and took silver in the British Championships. He added a stack of other medals last year including a bronze at an international in Holland.
In joint 2nd Place was Kristopher Lindsay
The winner of the U14 award is someone who has become a specialist at being good at lots of different events. He is a promising athlete at middle distance running, hurdles and long jump and used this breadth of talent to take gold in the Pentathlon at the Scottish U13 indoor championships last year. The five events were the 75m hurdles, shot put, high jump, long jump and 800m. His win was all the more impressive as it was the first time that he had competed in a pentathlon.
The winner of the Cadet Award
was Christopher Douglas
Junior Awards
When we were judging this category, one of the people looked up and said – how am I supposed to pick a top three, I’ve looked at eight so far and they all deserve to win. I could only agree with him, there are many in this category who have picked up scrolls tonight who are a credit to themselves their sport and to Falkirk who have not made the top three but who would be worthy winners.
In third place is a young lady who is a member of the Scottish Judo squad and also trains with the British Squad. As well as winning the Scottish U16 title, the Welsh Open and countless other titles, she took silver at the Scottish U18 championships and came 5th in the Scottish Senior event.
In 3rd place was Jayne Clason
In second place is another Scottish Internationalist, this time at basketball. In her second year as an under 16 she became vice captain, was the highest scorer in an international against England and was voted the teams most valuable player. She has now moved up to the Scottish U18 squad. She has also been a key player for Denny Basketball club, playing in the national league for the U16, U18 and senior ladies teams. She has also gained coaching qualifications and helped to coach the U14 school team that won the Scottish Cup last year.
In 2nd Place was Jennifer McLaren
The winner of the junior award is from a sport that has featured highly in the past and which is making a welcome return to these awards. He is a member of the Scottish Team and the Scottish Junior Champion, indoors and out, in the field of archery. He won a host of competitions last year; often winning the junior titles with scores that would have won the under 18 or even under 21 titles. The highlight of his year was in September where he won the Scottish Junior title with a score that beat the Scottish and British record.
The Junior Winner was Martin Russell
Senior Award
As you will see, the quality of the candidates for the senior award was exceptional, even by the standards of past years.
In 3rd place is a former captain of the Scottish Junior Volleyball team. She has been selected for the Scottish Universities team for this springs British Championships where she expected to be the first choice playmaker. Although still in her teens, she has been part of the Falkirk Ladies team that went from division 3 up to division 1, making the semi final of the Scottish Cup in the process. The Scottish Junior Women’s side that she captained performed admirably in the World Youth Games in London.
In 3rd place was Gillian Cox
In 2nd place is a full British internationalist in the sport of small bore and air rifle shooting. In individual and club competition he won gold at Scottish and British levels, setting a personal best of 597 out of 600 along the way. The highlight of his year was in New Zealand in November where he represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships winning gold in the men’s 3-position pairs event.
In 2nd place was Donald McIntosh
As you can imagine, it took someone special to beat a commonwealth champion into 2nd place. She is the first individual world champion from Falkirk that I can recall, certainly the only one in my time presenting these awards. Winner of the W50 event at the British Veteran Championships in Meadowbank, she went down to Gateshead two weeks later to the World Veteran Track Championships. On the 31st July she took gold in the 5,000 m in a time of 18 minutes 05 seconds. To put this in perspective, the fastest time by any British Woman this year is little more than a minute faster and was achieved by a woman nearly 30 years her junior. Three days later she took gold in the 10,000 meters in a time of 37 minutes, 41 seconds.
