Its that time of year again to celebrate the excellence of Cumbria's Sporting Heroes!

3rd October 2011

Nominations open today to find the award winners for this year's Cumbria Sports Awards. The prestigious Cumbria Sports Awards will be presented on Friday 25th November, at the Low Wood Hotel, Windermere. The event recognises the outstanding talents, commitment and successes of teams and individuals throughout Cumbria who are involved in sport. The awards also highlight the dedication and commitment of the vast number of volunteers who make sport happen across the county. We are delighted to welcome John Bell, England's most capped bowls international, and Cumbrian to be our special guest speaker at the event.

Last year the county's top sporting honour of 'Cumbria Sports Personality of the Year' (CSPOTY) went to Bowls ace Stuart Airey. Stuart had a truly outstanding 2010, playing at the highest level in Bowls for many years. Stuart's achievements included winning the Australian Open pairs Stuart said;
"Winning this award last year was a great surprise and it brought what was a successful years Bowls to a brilliant end. I am always keen to encourage other people to see bowls for the great sport it is and give it a try."

2009 CSPOTY went to David Hughes after being crowned 'World Masters Judo Champion' in the World Master Athlete Games in Atlanta, USA. 2008 CSPOTY went to racing driver Oliver Turvey, who had a truly outstanding year, being named Formula 3 driver of the year by the Racing Steps Foundation. Previous winners also include Anna McKenzie, not only was Anna the first female winner of The Mirror World Sailing Championships in South Africa, she was also the youngest! Other previous winners include goalkeeper Scott Carson, Lions and England rugby union winger Mark Cueto, cricketer Paul Nixon, and rally ace Malcolm Wilson.

Awards organisers Active Cumbria, the County Sport and Physical Activity Partnership are asking Cumbrian sports fans to submit their nominations. But it is not only the headline-grabbing professional stars they are looking to honour. They are looking for heroes for awards in 12 categories that recognise various levels of sporting success, in addition to the support services of administration and coaching.

Do you know a budding young sportsperson, veteran or master athlete who just keeps achieving?

It could be your child's teacher who coaches after school and works tirelessly to train a team for the next sports championships. Or it could be a coach at your local sports club who has spent hours voluntary coaching, and you feel it is time they got the recognition they deserve.

Nominations can be made for: -

• Sports Personality of the Year: Finest Individual Achievement
• Team of the Year: Best Team Achievement
• Performance of the Year: Best Individual Performance
• Special Award: Extra Special Achievement
• Service to Sport Award: Extra Dedicated Service
• Young Leader of the Year: Extra Talented Leadership
• Junior Team of the Year: Best Team Achievement
• Rising Star (five awards): Best Young Talent
• Coach of the Year: Delivering Exceptional Impact
• Junior Personality of the Year: Exceptional Rising Star
• Volunteer of the Year: Greatest Volunteering Contribution
• Disability Performance of the Year: Excelled Beyond Barriers

Emma Martin, Marketing and Communications Officer at Active Cumbria said: "With a history of recognising sporting achievement in Cumbria for more than 28 years, Cumbria Sports Awards judging panel have never ceased to be amazed at the wealth of sporting talent here in our County. The prestigious event is a great platform for sporting recognition here in Cumbria and beyond. This is an opportunity to recognise anyone who you feel has achieved great things locally or who has made a huge voluntary contribution to sport in Cumbria during 2011. We had some excellent nominations for the awards last year and had a real task deciding the deserving winners. Whatever the sport, we're searching for your local sporting hero, so get nominating!"

In addition to the main awards, three district sports awards are now well established in Copeland, Barrow and Carlisle and those winners receiving awards at district level are fed into the nomination process of the county awards event.

The deadline for nominations is Friday 21st October 2011

>>Nominate here

For further information, contact Active Cumbria on 01228 226885.