Special guest at Alnwick Playhouse on Tuesday night was Allison Curbishley, former Olympic, European and Commonwealth Games athlete who is now a BBC sports commentator.
Mayor Geoff Watson said: “This was a fantastic evening, giving due recognition to our local sporting heroes.
"On behalf of Alnwick Town Council who are the main sponsors of the event, I congratulate Alnwick and District Sports Council for organising such a wonderful event and all the nominees – we are lucky to have such a breadth of talent in the area.”
Pictures by Alnwick Town Council.
1. Junior Female
In the first category, Junior Female, these were Annabelle Gray who has had outstanding equestrian success . Her achievements include two regional wins and three regional placings in 2023, a National Individual First Place in the National Schools Equestrian Association 2023 Finals and becoming a national champion. She has travelled over a thousand miles with her pony “Hawkmoon Lady Luck”. Emilia Waugh, 12, from Lesbury, is a very talented athlete specialising in the Triathlon. For her age, she is the number 1 ranked triathlete in the Northeast region and was undefeated in the region in the whole of 2023 with 4 victories. Emilia’s talent is also evident in individual sports. In athletics she was a bronze Medallist in the Northeast Regional Cross-Country Championships, a Bronze Medallist in the Northumberland Schools Cross Country Championships and was the winner of the North Northumberland schools 1500 metres. In swimming, she qualified the for Northumberland and Durham County swimming championships at multiple distances. Matilda Wilson is a talented young Alnwick Dolphin swimmer who is ranked number 1 in the County and is in the Top 20 in Great Britain for her age group for the 200 metres Breaststroke. At the North East region championships in Sheffield, she won gold in the 100 metre individual medley. Matilda is talented at all four swimming strokes and holds a number of club records including the 800 metres freestyle. In this event she beat the club record that had stood for 18 years. She also helped Whittingham Primary School qualify for the 1st time in their history for the English Schools Swim Championships. Matilda has achieved this despite being only 4ft 8ins tall and often racing against much taller competitors. The Winner of the 2023 Junior Female award was Annabelle Grey who is pictured with Mike Telfer on behalf of sponsors Lilburns and Allison Curbishley. Photo: Alnwick Town Council
2. Junior Male
Nominees were: Alnwick Dolphin Sandy Brown. At the 2023 regional swimming championships he bagged a bronze medal in the 200 metre Front Crawl and also smashed a 26-year-old club record for the 800 metre Front Crawl, set by the legend Mark Brittian and in the process clocked a top 50 swim time in the UK. Sandy has top 100 swims in 10 separate events, 5 of which were top 50 efforts. He has been recognised as a future talent and has been selected to be part of the regional talent camp, the first Alnwick Dolphin ever to achieve this. Sixteen years old Archie Cook from Lesbury is a talented golfer who is a member of the Goswick and Alnmouth Foxton Golf Clubs. He is studying at Merchiston Castle School in Scotland and also plays golf there and is in the school elite squad. In August, he won the Faldo Series in Wales, and the North of England Boys Open. He also was capped by Scotland Under 16’s and was selected as the captain for matches in Holland against Ireland, Wales and the Netherlands. He was also a junior tour Scotland Ambassador. Archie is currently in the Under 18 Scottish Performance squad for 2023/24. In 2023, Archie’s average round score was 73.4 and his handicap an incredible plus 1. Now studying A levels, he has his eye set on a golf scholarship to America. Cameron Cullen excels at both Rugby League and Rugby Union. It was the professional manner that Rugby League brings that has enabled him to develop his Rugby Union skills. In Rugby Union he plays for the Alnwick Colts and he was also selected for the Northumberland County Under 17 team. In Rugby League he plays for Cramlington Rockets and the Newcastle Thunder Under 17 Academy. In 2023 he was capped by Scotland and he has recently signed for Leigh Leopards. The Winner of the 2023 Junior Male award was Archie Cook who was presented with his trophy by Andrew Robson on behalf of the award’s sponsor His Grace the Duke of Northumberland. Photo: Alnwick Town Council
3. Junior Achievement
The Junior Achievement Award was won by Cameron Cullen who is seen with John Humphries from sponsors Alnwick Rotary Club. Photo: Alnwick Town Council
4. Junior Team
There were two nominees in the Junior Team category. The Duchess’s Community High School Equestrian Team is a seven-strong group comprising of Annabelle, William, Poppy, Ellie, Eve, Frankie and Lucy. They had a remarkable twelve regional wins in 2023 however, their greatest achievement came in October when they went completely above and beyond expectation by coming home from the Addington Championships as champions in the National Schools Equestrian Association showjumping 1.05 metre event with all team members jumping at various heights. This was a great result for a High School in a rural area, competing in a forum of state, public and private school teams. The team underwent a whole year of intensive training and tirelessly gaining qualification tickets, both locally and regionally travelling over a thousand miles. Whittingham Primary School Swimming Team has five who qualified for the English Schools Swimming Association, Primary School Swim Championships in Sheffield. They did this by winning their heat at The Royal Grammar School in Newcastle against other schools from the North East. The final was at Sheffield and the children got to swim in front of a huge audience with International flags flying and the British anthem sung. With teams in both the Medley and Freestyle events in the small schools section they came 20th and 19th overall which was a really great result. Well done to Matilda, Lucca, Eliza, Pip, and Evie. The Winner of the 2023 Junior Team award, sponsored by The Alnwick Medical Group was the DCHS Equestrian Team and they were presented with their trophy by Dr Graham Syers. Photo: Alnwick Town Council