THE 2017 Farnham Sports Awards were deemed “a huge success” with a large audience in attendance and the standard of nominations extremely high.
Farnham Sports Council organises the annual awards scheme and initiates a wide range of award categories that cover volunteers, individuals, teams and clubs.
David Gill, the chairman of Farnham Sports Council, said: “The standard of nominations for this year’s sports awards were once again incredibly high.
“There were many fantastic ambassadors for sport in Farnham present at the ceremony, and congratulations to all the winners and those highly commended.
“To all those in our community who help to promote and develop sport in Farnham, thank you all for your efforts and keep up the good work, it makes a difference.”
This year’s junior winners in their respective age groups were Edward Adams from The Abbey School and the talented triathlete, Oscar Coggins.
The team winners for 2016 were the successful Stellar Gymnastics regional grades team in the junior category, and the Farnham Rugby Club 1st team won the senior category following their amazing season which culminated with them winning the RFU Senior Vase in the final at Twickenham.
The disability sports personality award went to the young boccia player Kate Seal and the young volunteer was Isaac Walker who willingly helps out at the Farnham Boxing Club.
The senior volunteer award was presented to Joe Boniface for his excellent work at Wrecclesham Cricket Club.
The Sports Coach of the year recognition went to the outstanding athlete and servant of the Farnham Runners, Jane Georghiou, and another club member, Craig Tate-Grimes won the service to sport award for his long service organising local running events.
The sports club of the year were Farnham Swimming Club for their teamwork and progressive approach to club management.
Among those recognised for outstanding achievements were Keith Morris for service to tennis, Sailability’s Brian Fuller for the most improved sports performer and two excellent local initiatives won awards for promoting healthy lifestyles in the community - Caroline Eaton for RunFitMum and David Jeffs for a more inclusive version of rugby.
The Mayor of Waverley, Simon Inchbald, presented an award to Paul Adlam for his excellent work at Brightwell Tennis Club and the Mayor of Farnham, Mike Hodge, presented his local community award to the impressive Farnham Boxing Club.
A presentation was also made to Jayson Hayes and his colleagues from the University of Creative Arts for, quite voluntarily, producing a sports promotional film for Farnham.
Previous winners of the Farnham Sports Personality of the Year have included cricketer Graham Thorpe and rugby player, Jonny Wilkinson. This year’s award was shared by the European and World Under 23 Duathlon Champion, Richard Allen and the outstanding Rachel Morris for her gold medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
Rachel was a successful hand-cyclist but changed sports to rowing, incredibly winning a Paralympic gold medal at her first attempt. Rachel revealed at the awards evening that, despite having major surgery this year, she’s determined to have another attempt at winning a medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
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, including Farnham’s award winners, 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 the 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.”