Edinburgh's sporting achievers recognised an annual awards

The achievements of the Capital's sport clubs, coaches, volunteers and athletes have been celebrated at an annual awards ceremony.

Participants, players, officials and organisers were recognised at the Clubsport Awards to mark their enthusiasm and dedication in their specific sport, Picture: JON SAVAGE

The Edinburgh Sport Awards recognise those teams and individuals who have performed extraordinarily or those passionate people who dedicate their lives to helping others.

One of those was BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year 2017 nominee Ieuan James won the Special Achievement of the Year award.

The junior canoe sprint World Champion is one of the rising stars of British Sport and will now wait to see if he has made the top three for the Sports Personality award on December 7 ahead of the ceremony on December 17.

The awards ceremony, managed by ClubSportEdinburgh with the support of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh Leisure and other partners, took place at the City Chambers last night.

Judges had the difficult job of restricting the total nominations to 42 across 23 different sports with 14 prizes awarded to the worthy recipients.

The awards aims to celebrate those who wish to aspire to be the best in the world while also highlighting the wide range of opportunities residents in Edinburgh have to participate in sport.

Young Volunteer of the Year went to Matilda Coke for actively promoting female participation and enjoyment of all sports, specifically in cricket.

She is the only female coach regularly in the set up with her unwavering dedication to coaching unparalleled.

For the first year, the awards celebrated sporting achievements, all the way from grass roots to elite participation.

The lifetime coaching achievement was awarded to founder and head coach at Edinburgh Volleyball Club, Ian Brownlee.

On top of his full time job, Ian set up the club in 1995 and created an attractive infrastructure from Primary 1 to Premier League with many past and present players going on to achieve national and Olympics team selection.

Colin McMillan, chairperson, ClubSportEdinburgh said: “It was a privilege to host the 2017 Edinburgh Sport Awards at the City Chambers.

“We saw almost 100 athletes, clubs, coaches and volunteers from 23 different sports celebrating the outstanding contributions that they have made to life in our city and communities.

“Edinburgh is well known for its lively culture scene, however tonight we showed that sport is a key part to the lives of so many people across the Capital. We have so many Scottish, British, European and World Champions in our midst, it is something that can truly inspire us all.”