THE Farnham Sports Awards were deemed a huge success last Monday evening with a large audience in attendance and more high-quality nominations than ever before.

Volunteers, individuals, sports teams and clubs from across the area were celebrated at the annual awards ceremony, held at Farnham Rugby Club and again organised by Farnham Sports Council with the support of the County Sports Partnership.

David Gill, chairman of Farnham Sports Council, said: “The standard of nominations for this year’s sports awards were incredibly high, possibly the best ever. There were many fantastic ambassadors for sport in Farnham present at the ceremony, and congratulations to all the winners and those highly commended.

“As the event is about celebrating sport and sporting success, we were also fortunate enough to have Rachel Morris with us for the evening. To all those who help to promote and develop sport in Farnham, thank you all for your efforts and keep up the good work.’’

The Club of the Year went to the Frensham Pond Sailing and Sailability following on from their recent Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service success.

Among the many individuals recognised for their outstanding service to sport in the town were top athletics coach Mick Woods for his ‘Lifetime Achievement’ and to Peter Brinsden as the ‘Volunteer of the Year’ for his outstanding voluntary service to cricket.

The young Volunteer of the Year was Sailability’s Lucy Edgar. The Senior Sports Personality of the Year was the long-distance runner, Susie Chan.

In the two separate age groups, the junior sports personalities were nine-year-old karate star Molly Fairhead and athlete Christopher Snook. The Coach of the Year was Farnham Boxing Club’s Rikke Askew.

One of the highlights of the evening was a special presentation to Paralympian, Rachel Morris, by the Mayor of Farnham, John Ward, who said: “Rachel, what an amazing person you are. After all you’ve been through, you’ve enjoyed a successful career as a hand-cyclist - winning time trial gold at Beijing 2008 and a bronze medal in the road race at London 2012.

“Then, seeking a new challenge, you change sports to rowing and you go on to win a gold medal at Rio on your very first Paralympic Games attempt. It’s a fantastic achievement.”

He added: “Naturally, this doesn’t happen by accident. You’ve worked incredibly hard to achieve all your successes and you are a truly gifted and inspirational athlete.

“Furthermore, despite all your training and competition requirements which keep you busy, you’re often willing and prepared to support local community events. Farnham is very proud of you.”

Farnham’s event is one of 14 similar sports award evenings around the county and they are organised in conjunction with Active Surrey.

All local winners from around Surrey go through to a county assessment panel to be considered for the prestigious Surrey Sports Awards.

Marion Stockley, the sports council secretary, said: “Our thanks go to Farnham Rugby Club for allowing us to host our sports award’s evening and to all the vital clubs and individuals who made the nominations, without their contributions we wouldn’t be able to stage the event.”