Skeleton World Champion Lizzy Yarnold and Piers Gilliver, the world’s number one wheelchair fencer, were among the University of Bath-based athletes honoured at the 2015 Bath Chronicle Sports Award.
The winners collected their prizes during a ceremony hosted by television broadcaster John Inverdale at Bath Racecourse, with Team Bath Netball U16s receiving the Junior Team of the Year award after reaching the national finals for the first time in a decade.
Yarnold retained the Professional Sports Personality of the Year accolade after completing a career grand-slam in 2015 by adding the World and European titles to her Olympic and World Cup crowns.
The British Skeleton athlete overcame stiff competition from swimmer Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, who trains in the London 2012 Legacy Pool, and rower Helen Glover, who began her glittering career on the GB Rowing Team Start Programme at the University of Bath. Both won world titles during 2015.
Gilliver was named as Disability Sports Performer of the Year after finishing 2015 top of the epee rankings and on course for Rio 2016 Paralympic Games qualification.
He took the award ahead of two other athletes who train at the University of Bath – athlete Sophie Kamlish, part of Rob Ellchuk’s training group, and badminton player Bobby Griffin, coached once a week by Pete Bush on the Team Bath Futures programme.
Team Bath Tennis – hosts of this week’s Aegon GB Pro-Series Tournament at the University of Bath – were finalists in the Community Club of the Year category and the British Swimming National Training Centre in Bath was shortlisted for Team of the Year.
Head Coach Dave McNulty was a finalist in the Coach of the Year category and University of Bath swimmer Jay Lelliott, coached by Mark Skimming, was shortlisted for the main Sports Personality of the Year prize.
Stephen Baddeley, Director of Sport at the University of Bath, attended the ceremony and said: “The variety of those gaining awards – from Olympic and world-level performers through to local volunteers – was a fantastic showcase for sport across our area.”
More information about the Bath Chronicle Sports Awards can be found at here.
Report courtesy of Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.
