Sports Personality Awards 2006
Citations

Club Award
The club award goes to one of the most established and successful in the area. In 2006 they boasted a whole host of awards, along with a host of individual champions, the club produced....

• Scottish Cup Winners U15 girls
• Scottish Cup Runners Up U17 girls
• U13 Boys East of Scotland Cross Country League Champions
• U15 Boys East of Scotland District Champions
• Winners of the Forth Valley league at U11 and U15
• World track medalist, British Hill Running Champion, and supplier of 7 of the 12 strong Scottish team for the Celtic Nations International

The club hosted the British & Irish masters cross country international, the Scottish Cross Country Championships, the Scottish Young Athlete Road Race and the 40th running of the Round the Houses road race (the 1st Jim Dingwall Memorial)

The Club Awards goes to Falkirk Victoria Harriers

Club Team
Part of the success of Falkirk Victoria Harriers is due to the tremendous performances of their veterans. At the British Masters Road Relay, this team took part in the over 45 category, winning the race by 4 minutes 12 seconds, a huge margin at this level of competition. They were the first Scottish team to compete in this race, and won at the first attempt. They are the Scottish Cross Country Relay champions for the 3rd year in a row and supplied three members to the Scottish team for the British and Irish Masters.

The Club Team are the Falkirk Victoria Harriers Masters Ladies Team

School Team
The winners of the School Award are another all female team, this time from the sport of basketball. They finished runners up in the Scottish Schools “A” Cup

Braes High School S1 Girls Basketball Team

Local Service to Sport
The service to Sport Awards are always special as they give the opportunity to recognise some of the most important people, who are often out of the limelight. This gentleman has served his sport for over 25 years – whether it be coaching, driving the mini bus, traveling all over the UK and Europe or running events, whether they are British Championships or local schools events. Still going strong he tackles just about any jobs to help the children. Every year the scroll awards are full of people from Deanburn Judo Club, something for which he can be justifiably proud.

The Local Service to Sport Award goes to Robert Clason

National Service to Sport Award
The winner of the Scottish Association of Local Sports Councils service to sport award is a very special lady. She has dedicated her life to the sport of sighted Ladies Bowling. She inaugurated the Forth Valley VIP Bowlers a club that has won more than a few awards in its on right in the past decade. She was the treasurer of the Scottish Women’s Bowling Association for over 25 years, and remains the honorary president of Forth Valley VIP Bowlers. She has traveled the world as a great ambassador to sighted ladies bowling, and was recognised by HM Queen Elizabeth for services to blind bowling.

The National Service to Sport Award goes to Dora Crudge MBE.

Coach of the Year
Our coach of the year had an outstandingly successful 2006. A former winner of our Senior Sports personality awards, his success as a commonwealth games athlete had led to his appointment as team manager for the Scottish small bore shooting squad for the 2006 games. He was then asked to take over as team coach where his group of 8 athletes were one of the successes of the Scottish team. Sheena Sharp & Susan Jackson took gold in the Women’s Prone Pair, Neil Stirton & Martin Sinclair took silvers in the men’s and Sheena became only the second ever Scottish woman to win a second gold medal. Another one of his athletes became the junior world champion and led GB to team gold. In the last year he has been working with the GB squad for the 2012 Olympics and become the Scottish High Performance Manager.

Coach of the Year is Donald McIntosh

New Coach of the Year
The winner of this award has represented Scotland's Senior Women’s Basketball team, where they finished as runners up in the European Promotions Cup. As a coach she took the Clark Eriksson Fury Cadette Girls to the Scottish National Cup title and is the assistant coach to the Scottish Junior Women.

New Coach of the Year is Jennifer McLaren

Veteran
The winner of the veteran award is one of many fine masters’ athletes from Falkirk Victoria Harriers. In April 2006 she won the Scottish Masters Marathon and followed that up with victory in the Scottish Masters Cross Country in the over 40s age group.  She was the Scottish ladies team Captain at the British & Irish Masters, where she was the first Scot home. When she won the British Masters 5km road race at over 45, she was giving 10 years in age to the youngest competitor. She was part of the British Road Relay winning team where she recorded the fastest lap of the day and is the Scottish Masters 10km road race champion.

Veteran of the Year is Fiona Matheson

Disability – Individual
The winner of this award is a young judo competitor who suffers from cerebral palsy. This causes particular difficulty in a sport like judo, where he is only able to use one hand, since he has no power at all in his left. Despite this, he took the silver medal in the North of England Open, winning four contests on his way to runner up spot.

Disability Individual is Martyn Couser

Disability – Team
This award goes to a pair of visually impaired bowlers. Members of Forth Valley VIP bowlers, they took gold in the Scottish Rinks in Edinburgh, silver in the Scottish Pairs event and bronze in the British Singles in Wales.

George Gourlay & Harry Harris

Lifetime Achievement Award

Tonight it gives us great pleasure to present a very special award to someone who is quite possibly the finest sportsman ever to come from the Falkirk Council area. He is one of a very elite band to have competed for Scotland at five Commonwealth Games, where he became the first ever Scottish Gymnast to win a gold medal He took gold in the men's rings at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England. He has competed for Great Britain at two World Championships and has been the National Champion a record eight times. Now retired from gymnastics, has appeared as a competitor on television in the BBC 3 series Hercules, and was a member of the team representing Glasgow in the ITV game show Simply the Best. He is now a member of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games bid team.

Our Lifetime achievement award goes to Steve Frew

I f Steve doesn’t mind, I’d like to ask him to stay on the stage and help present the awards to some of our younger sportsmen and women.

Under 14 Individual Awards

In 3rd place is a young wrestler, a member of Denny Warriors. Ranked no. 2 in Great Britain at 32kg having on gold medals at the British Novice Championships and the Welsh Open and silver at the British Championships, English Championships and Scottish Open

In 3rd Place – Taylor Cummings

In 2nd place is our first ever winner from Highland Dancing, now recognised by the Scottish Sports Council as a sport. In 2006 she won a host of championships including the Canadian Rockies Open Championship, the UK Championship and the World Pipe Band Championship. She beaten several best and present world champions and is arguably the best dancer of her age in the world at present.

In 2nd Place – Anthea Bundy

The winner of the U14 award is another wrestler, this time from the Tryst Lions Club. A member of the Scottish National team and the British Development team, he won his 5th consecutive British title and 3rd consecutive Scottish title, despite having to move up two weight categories over the year. He has twice represented the British Development team, coming 5th in the Riga Open and winning the Helsinki Open in Finland in the 13-16 age group. This is the only gold medal won by a member of the British Development Team at international level.

The winner of the U14 is Connor Evans

U18 Individual Awards
In 3rd place we have another wrestler, from the Denny Warriors Club. Despite suffering from a knee injury for most of the season, he still took gold at the British Championships, silver at the Welsh Open and was a very creditable 6th at the Commonwealth Youth Championships.
In 3rd place is Michael Airnes

In 2nd place is Scotland top ranked young pole vaulter. She won the Scottish Schools indoor title, the Scottish U17 indoor championship, and the Scottish U20 outdoor championship. She was runner up in the British Schools and 2nd in the UK under 17 championships. Her personal best of 3m 45cm ranks her as the 5th best in the UK
In 2nd place is Stephanie McKenzie

The winner of the U18 is another athlete, also from Falkirk Victoria Harriers. She won the Scottish U17 championships at both long jump and triple jump and was selected for the Scottish team at the Celtic International where she won the U17 long jump. At the UK championships, she was 1st in the U17 long jump and was even 3rd in the Scottish indoor high jump. In her age group she is ranked 6th in the UK for High Jump and 7th for triple jump.
Winner of the U18 award is Jade Nimmo

Senior Awards
In 3rd place we have a member of the 2006 Commonwealth Games Squad in Australia, who was a starting 5 member of the Scotland Basketball Team. A member of Clark Eriksson Fury, he made an outstanding contribution to Scotland’s qualifying campaign and was the top 3 point shooter for Scotland during the games themselves.
In 3rd place is Keith Bunyan

In 2nd place is another member of Falkirk Victoria Harriers and another pole vaulter. In the Scottish Indoor Championships she took the senior title and won the UK championships at U20 level, where she is ranked No for her age in the UK and top 10 overall. She was also runner up in the Scottish U20 200m and has won several National Junior League events at 100m and 200m.
In 2nd place is Kimberly Skinner

Falkirk has produced a crop of outstanding veteran athletes in recent years and it is fitting that the senior award should go to one of them. At the British Masters indoor championships he won the 800m and was second in the 1500m. At the World Masters Indoor Championships in Linz, Austria, he was 3rd in both the 800m and 1500m in the over 45 age group.

Winner of the Senior Award is Alexander Bryce