Greater Manchester sporting heroes heralded in awards evening

BE INSPIRED: Joe Brown recieves his award

By James Coldwell

Inspirational people in sport were heralded in The Greater Manchester Sports Awards at Lancashire Cricket Ground on Friday.

The annual awards, which celebrate the finest sporting personalities in the region, provided a perfect occasion for community sports people to receive commendations for their efforts. 

The nominees for the awards, ranging from individual to group accolades had already been celebrated at borough level across the area, and were vying for further titles.

Katharine Merry congratulated all the nominees on Friday for their accomplishments within their region.

Volunteer of the Year went to Tameside’s Alex Williams while Coach of the Year was awarded to Richard Blackshaw of Stockport.

Stockport’s James Goddard picked up the Sports Achiever of the year accolade and the combined nominee from Bolton and Wigan, Hazel Johnson, was awarded the Disabled Sports Achiever of the Year title.

Club of the year went to Charlestown Netball Club from Salford while the unsung hero accolade was received by Trafford’s Joe Brown

Joe, of Brooklands Sports Club, was also given the Be-Inspired award which was introduced two years ago at the event.

The recipient is chosen by a judging panel that have to decide which winner of all the awards is the most inspiring for leaving a lasting legacy from 2012.

The evening also saw the Greater Manchester launch of the lottery funded Olympic Legacy programme, Sportivate.

Courtney Fry and Neil Danns helped launch the project that aims to get 16,500 young people aged 14-25 into sport in the region while bringing in £1.76m into Greater Manchester.