The Midlothian Sports Awards were held on Friday 27th October at Lasswade Community High School, with athletes and coaches involved within disability sport recognised for their significant achievements over the previous 12 months.
Visually Impaired Alpine Skiier, Michael Kear picked up the Senior Sports Personality Award after a very impressive series of results earlier this year. The former Royal Blind School pupil recorded some notable performances, including 2nd place finish in a leg of the Europa Cup in Veysonnaz, Switzerland. The Loanhead sportsman also recorded a 1st place finish in January this year at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Alpine Skiing Slalom Race, pipping athletes from Switzerland and China to claim gold in Rinn, Austria. Kear has achieved a remarkable amount over the two years since becoming involved with the sport and has been part of the British Parasnowsport Development team since 2015/2016 and has recently been selected onto the British Parasnowsport Foundation Squad for 2017/2018 – ultimately aiming for the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing, China.
Further recognition surrounded the significant success achieved at this summer’s Special Olympics National Games with the Lothian Special Olympics team receiving the Senior Team of the Year Award and Lynne Sturgeon awarded with the Coach of the Year accolade.
Lynne Sturgeon led a successful Lothian team of over 100 athletes, coaches & volunteers as Head of Delegation (HOD) at the National event in Sheffield. This role involved managing a large team of individuals, working closely with a range of personalities and ensuring an environment was created for an enjoyable experience for all involved – all of this and more was achieved, meaning a hugely successful week in Sheffield. In addition to the significant undertaking as HOD, Lynne also leads the development of Beeslack All Stars – a multi-sport club for youngsters with a disability – acting as a coach and coach mentor on a weekly basis. This relationship has helped develop a number of coaches and benefited the local authority, providing the experience and confidence for individuals to go out and coach in the community.
The Lothian Special Olympics team received the Senior Team of the Year award after a hugely successful performance in August. The Summer Games, held every 4 years, invites athletes with intellectual disabilities of all sporting abilities to participate and compete in a wide range of sports including athletics, swimming, football and judo. In total, there were 69 athletes and 31 coaches & volunteers who represented Lothian across 10 of the 20 sports offered during this year’s games, with a third of the overall number coming from Midlothian. Athletes participated superbly throughout whilst claiming 25 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze medals and a host of 4th- 8th place ribbons. Head of Delegation and recently crowned Midlothian Coach of the Year, Lynne Sturgeon added “It was amazing, the attitude and respect the Lothian athletes showed throughput the games. The weekly dedication of the voluntary coaches and admin volunteers who create the training opportunities in the Lothians was repaid superbly by the athletes. Without these volunteers the athletes would not have these opportunities to excel on and off the sports field.”