North East Disability Sports Award 2015

The unheralded heroes of sport in the region were honoured at this year’s North East Disability Sports Awards.

The awards, which were held at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, aim to recognise and celebrate the achievements of participants, coaches and clubs.

There were plenty of sporting heroes at the event this year, with over 80 nominations for this year’s event.

Over 150 guests from the world of sport were there to support the individuals and clubs nominated for the eight awards on offer.

The results are as follows:

The Male and Female personality of the Year awards went to swimmer Matthew Wylie and Paralympian Jade Jones. Both Jade and Matthew have their sights set firmly on Rio in 2016.

Swimmer Matthew Gibson and runner Amy Carr from Middlesbrough won the Young Achiever awards.

Young Amy has rounded off a highly successful season where she claimed gold at her international debut in the T37 100m, representing Great Britain at the Brazilian Schools Paralympic Games in Sao Paolo.

Ross Miller won the Service to Sport award for her years of grassroots and elite coaching work with Gateshead Harriers, while swimming coach Daniel Thompson won the Coach of the Year.

After a successful 2014 the North East Visually Impaired Tennis Club was presented with the Club of the Year gong and football coach and volunteer Craig Riach won Participant of the Year.

2014 has been an incredible year for the tennis club with members and volunteers gaining coaching qualifications to help them to improve and to extend their offer. In May 2014 the club hosted a tournament which attracted 40 visually impaired tennis players from all over the country and abroad. The club is now preparing to stage a qualifying tournament for the 2015 National Championships.

The event was organised by the region’s County Sports Partnerships, in association with The Education Network.