Live Active Leisure has announced the finalists in the 2023 Perth and Kinross Sports Awards. Now in their 34th year, the prestigious awards are promoted and supported in partnership with Perth & Kinross Sports Council and recognise the commitment and achievements of volunteers, teams and athletes from across a wide range of sports in our local area.

Phil Coleman, Community Sport and Partnership Manager for LAL, commented, "Once again, whittling down entries to 33 finalists for the Perth & Kinross Sports Awards was very difficult for our panel. The standard of submission was extremely high, demonstrating just how well served we are in the area.

It’s great to be able to celebrate this success, in partnership with Perth and Kinross Sports Council and all of the finalists, recognising the hard work and commitment that individuals, teams and organisations have dedicated throughout 2023.“

The ceremony will take place at Perth Art Gallery on Friday 1st March 2024 and promises to showcase local sporting talent and those people committed to inspiring future generations.
 
The full list of finalists features a total of 33 volunteers, coaches, athletes and teams with achievements gained during the period from January 1st 2023 to December 31st 2023.

For information about previous winners, please visit our previous winners page here and find out more about the finalists below.

 

Sports Personality of the Year

Laura Watt – Curling

Laura was a member of both GB & Scotland teams in 2023 that worked hard throughout the year to win Gold at the World Junior Championships in Füssen, Germany with team Henderson. Then, following a change in team line-up (with Laura moving from lead to 3rd), the team retained their Scottish Junior title in November, becoming Champions for the 3rd time.

Lois Garland – Athletics

In February 2023 Lois won the 200m at the Scottish Student Athletics Indoor Championships, running a new personal best.   In April 2023 Lois, then went on to do the double, and achieve Gold at the Scottish Student Athletics Outdoor Championships in the 200m.    These performances led to Team Scotland selectors giving Lois her first senior vest call up at the renowned Loughborough International Meeting in May 2023.    In her last event of the season in August 2023, Lois took Gold over 200m in the 130th Scottish Athletics Senior Outdoor Championships.

Holly Wilkie Milne – Curling

Holly was part of Team Henderson who won Gold at the World Junior Curling Championships in March 2023. Holly also took home Scottish Junior Championships Gold with Team Munro in November 2023. Holly is a level 1 curling coach and has helped out within schools, sharing her knowledge and skills with the younger generation.

Young Sports Personality of the Year

Katherine Renfrew – Swimming

Katherine is 16 years old and a member of Perth City Swim Club and the Scottish Swimming Youth Academy team.  In March she secured her first British Swimming Championship qualification and in April won multiple medals at the Scottish National Age Group Championships. In June at the Scottish National & Open Championships, she won two Scottish Junior Titles, in July made the finals in 5 events and secured a British Championships bronze medal at the British Summers Meet and in December, won three more Championship titles at the Scottish National Short Course Championships.

Connor Graham – Golf

Connor has had another outstanding year, winning the 2023 Scottish Mens Open,  was runner up in the 2023 French Boys Open, won the Junior Ryder Cup in Rome for Team Europe (unbeaten over 3 days in Rome), and was selected as the youngest ever player in history to the GB Walker Cup Team to play against USA at the Old Course in St.Andrews.    Connor was also presented with an honorary membership to Blairgowrie Golf Club in recognition of his achievements and has secured full golf scholarship to train and study at Texas Tech University in the USA.

Miller Hetherington – Fencing

Miller is currently placing 3rd in the Great Britain rankings and from this achieved selection to participate in the European Cadet Sabre Fencing Circuit.  His achievements in 2023 in Under 17 Cadets Sabre are - Gold at British Fencing Ranking Competition, Cardiff; 6^th at the British Fencing National Championships, Nottingham; Bronze at the British Fencing Ranking Competition,  London and Bronze at the British Fencing Ranking Competition, London.

Disability Sports Personality of the Year

Freya Howgate – Athletics

Perth Strathtay Harrier, Freya is a T/F 37 classification athlete (Cerebral Palsy) who has achieved considerable success throughout the last 12 months. Already an outstanding athlete in Scottish competition, Freya was awarded her first full Scottish athletics cap in 2023 despite still being in the U23 age group. With personal best performances across a range of para throws events this past year, Freya was ranked number 1 in the UK (Shot Put). Competing in the UK University games (Sportscity, Manchester) Freya achieved not one but two podium finishes.

Alex Medley – Boccia

Alex, 18, a is a member of Perth Eagles Boccia Club and has enjoyed a very successful year at local, regional and national level. At the Perth & Kinross Disability Sport (PKDS) Boccia Championships, Alex secured a Bronze medal. Further medal successes came at the PKDS Team Boccia Championships, Dundee Discovery Games and Scottish Disability Sport National School Championships.    Alex was recently selected for the Scottish National Development Squad and in July 2023 made his debut on the international stage, representing Scotland at the Para Sport Festival Teams and Pairs Championships. The highlight of Alex's year however was being crowned the Scottish National Boccia Champion (BC2) in October. 

Graeme Panton – Bowls

Graeme is a bowler with a Learning disability that plays at Blackford bowling club.    Graeme has been very successful for many years however, 2023 has been a special year for him, achieving selection for team Scotland and competing in the Learning Disability Indoor Bowls International Series in York in April 2023 and returning with a Silver medal.    Graeme also won the Perth & Kinross Disability Sport Lawn Bowls Championships for players with a learning disability in August 2023. The event also acted as a qualifier for the National Championships, and Graeme went on to be crowned National Champion following an amazing performance at Kelvingrove in Glasgow.

Veteran Sports Personality of the Year

Pat Duffy - Table Tennis

Well known veteran table tennis player Pat was crowned the Scottish National Champion (70 and over) in March, followed by selection to play for Scotland in the over 70s team at the British Championships.  As well as being Perth’s over 60s Champion, Pat has been club coach at Saints Table Tennis club for 49 years. 

Ronnie Hunter – Athletics

Ronnie from Crieff, has been involved in athletics for over 40 years and in 2023 had particular success at the European Athletics Championships (masters) in Italy, making the 200m individual final and winning Gold in the 4 x 100m Relay event. He was also awarded the European Athletics (masters) Athlete of the Year accolade.

Dan Travers - Badminton
 
Former Commonwealth Games competitor Dan added to his ever-growing medal collection with a Silver in the mixed doubles 65 age group alongside fellow Scot Christine Black at the World Senior Championships in South Korea.  

Coach of the Year

Tommy Ogilvie - Strathallan Tennis

Tommy has created an opportunity for every pupil at Strathallan school to play tennis at least once a week.  Last year the school played 89 fixtures with over 100 pupils playing at events, representing the school. Of particular note, Tommy coached the U15 Girls Team to win the Scottish Cup, with the Senior Boys finishing as runners up in the Scottish Schools Cup, and qualifying for the British National Schools Championships, where they finished in 3^rd place.

Alan Erickson - Perth Strathtay Harriers

Alan is coach to Lois Garland (Perth Strathtay Harriers) and has helped her to achieve great results in 2023, namely Scottish University Indoor 200m Champion, Scottish University Outdoor 200m Champion and Scottish Senior Outdoor 200m Champion, including personal best performances in 100m and 200m.  Alan currently has 5 athletes in the Live Active Emerging Athlete Programme and the level of performance of the athletes being coached by Alan is incredible.   

Ashleigh Mazur - Perth City Juniors Netball Club

Ashleigh is Coach of the Under 15s section of Perth City Juniors Netball Club. She led the team to win Netball Scotland’s biggest junior competition, the Scottish Youth Cup. The squad were a new team, many who didn’t know one another and by the end of the season, Ashleigh had created a squad of girls with firm friendships who all experienced a fantastic achievement which they’ll never forget.

Youth Leadership Award

Racheal McWilliams – Dance

Racheal volunteers at Breadalbane Academy where she leads 2 lunchtime dance clubs - one for primary pupils and one for secondary pupils. Her dedication has added up to more than 50 hours of volunteering in 2023. Racheal had the idea for a 4 day summer dance camp for pupils P5-S2 in Highland Perthshire, in Pitlochry town hall. Living rurally, Racheal is very passionate about making sure people get the same opportunities as people living in urban areas and travelled herself by bus a hour each way to lead the sessions. Finally, Racheal is a Girls for Change Ambassador for Breadalbane Academy.

Sam Shepherd – Football

Sam, a former pupil at Kinross High School having left school after S5 (June 2023) has additional support needs, a speech impediment, ADHD and Tourette’s.  He has overcome so many barriers to volunteer without fail on a weekly basis with Saints in the community and is a wonderful football coach. Some of Sam’s achievements are supporting 5 x P1 pupils to develop their motor skills through the Jungle Journey programme, attending the LEAD Sport courses, and volunteering with Saints in the Community, helping to increase the number of children accessing football in Kinross.  Sam is now at Perth College studying sports studies, has completed the SFA 1.1 course as part of the Aspiring Coaches programme, and he thoroughly enjoys volunteering on a weekly basis with Saints in the Community.

Ava Marshall - Netball / Gymnastics

Ava supports PE staff by helping to lead the extra-curricular Netball sessions at Bertha Park for S1 - S3 year groups and through this, has supported the S1 & S3 teams to the Quarter Finals of the Scottish Schools Cup. Ava helps to plan the sessions, lead the pupils through drills, participates in team selections and provides lots of encouragement and support to the younger pupils. In Easter 2023, Ava started volunteering in gymnastics holiday programme activities and by the end of the holidays received her 10 hours Saltire Award for volunteering. Ava has since gone on to achieve her 50 hours award through summer activity camps.                                                          

School Team of the Year

Bertha Park S3 Boys Football Team

The Bertha Park S3 Boys Football Team have been together since S1 and come along way since then.  With the introduction of the new PKC Cup tournaments, the team managed to comfortably win the S3 Cup 6-2 in the cup final at Jeanfield and the team then went on to reach the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup.

Perth High School Senior Boys Football Team

Perth High School's Senior football team won the Scottish Schools Shield at Hampden in May. This is the oldest school football trophy in the world and has only previously been won once in its 119-year history by a team from Perth. More than 120 schools from across Scotland entered the competition.  Closer to home, the team also won all their group games and a knockout semi-final in the Perth and Kinross Schools Cup. In the final against Breadalbane Academy, the team staged a late comeback to win 6-5 and lift the trophy at McDiarmid Park.   

Perth Academy Curling

Perth Academy won the Scottish Schools Championships, following a busy round robin played over Friday and Saturday, with 8 out of the 18 competing teams progressing to the play-offs. Perth Academy fought off Elgin Academy in the final to win by a single point, taking the national schools title at Curl Aberdeen.  

Chuck Hay Team of the Year

Team Lockhart – Curling

Team Lockhart (Jackie Lockhart, Mairi Milne, Wendy Johnston & Katie Loudon) won the Scottish Senior Ladies Championships, earning the team the right to compete at the World Curling Championships in South Korea where they went on to finish in Silver medal position.

Perth City Juniors U15 Netball Team

The Perth City Under 15s squad won the biggest Junior Netball competition in Scotland arranged by Netball Scotland.  The girls in this team are pupils of Bertha Park, Perth Academy, Perth High, Auchterarder High, Dollar Academy and Strathallan. The competition had them complete throughout the year in group and knock out stages facing stiff competition from all across Scotland. The team eventually took Gold in a 61-58 victory against Holyrood Netball Club at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.

Team Connal - Curling

Team Connal  won the Scottish Senior Mens (Graeme Connal, Alastair Scott, Mark Fraser, Mark Brass) Championships, earning the team the right to compete at the World Curling Championships in South Korea where they went on to finish in Silver medal position.

Volunteer of the Year

John Duncan - Crieff Juniors Football Club

Team sports for girls within the Strathearn area is limited and John has encouraged all levels and abilities to attend. During 2023 John has been the driving force in growing the girl’s section of Crieff Juniors Football Club. The club evolved from 3 girls playing with boy’s teams to 56 girls registered to play.  John now coaches two teams, Under 12 and Under 14, who participate in the East Region Leagues. A number of the under 14 girls now assist in coaching the younger age groups. This helps them develop their confidence, communication, and organisational skills. As a result of these opportunities, the club has seen girls move into Academy teams.

Frazer Robertson – Perth Parrots Floorball Club

Throughout 2023 Frazer has continued to push for inclusion across everything the Parrots do, with new initiatives such as Parrots Fitness sessions, to the Parrots short film ‘Every Time We Play We Win’ which shows just how important the club is to members. In July 2023 Frazer along with other members of the club headed to Bern to take part in the EuroGames, and Frazer gave up hours to ensure that funding was in place to reduce the cost of participation, as well as organising accommodation, flights and kit for those attending. The team came home with a Bronze medal, which for several playes was the first sporting achievement they have ever won.  

Stewart Lobban – Boccia

Stewart is a volunteer with Perth Eagles Boccia Club and an extremely popular boccia coach. His caring, supportive and encouraging approach has seen dozens of people with a disability be introduced and sustained in the sport. The club is thriving with over 25 boccia players benefiting from learning more about the sport, getting active, meeting new people, having fun, gaining confidence with a number of players progressing along the boccia pathway – four players are now training with the Tayside Regional squad and one with the Scottish National Development squad.   

Sport for Change Award

Tayside Judo

Tayside Judo have been nominated for their commitment to positively impacting the lives of young individuals in collaboration with Perth Grammar School. Tayside Judo's comprehensive and long-term project, initiated in Easter 2023, demonstrates their dedication to community integration, mental health improvement, and the development of essential life skills. Coaches David Scobbie and Aidan Moffat have successfully engaged secondary school students, initially facing challenges, through judo sessions that foster respect and responsible citizenship. The transformative impact is evident in improved attendance, enhanced skills, and, most importantly, a remarkable shift in mindset and behavior.

Perth Pickleball Club

In 2023, Perth Pickleball Club formalised their Pickleball for Wellbeing sessions at Perth UHI that now are delivered weekly for up to 30 participants. Pickleball is used to support individuals with long-term health conditions, ambulant disabilities or additional support needs and they are encouraging participants who have previously experienced barriers to participation by offering a safe space where players can gain more self-esteem and confidence whilst improving their physical and mental wellbeing. This project has been recognised a success by Pickleball Scotland and the cooperative coaching and game play approach has encouraged a humanistic style of delivery that promotes intrinsic feelings of success for everyone attending, making sure that smiling is more important than scoring!

Perth Parrots Floorball Club

In 2023 the Perth Parrots Floorball Club formed the LGBTIQ+ Team Scotland floorball squad (part of a wider LEAP Sports Scotland TEAM Scotland) which participated in EuroGames 2023 in Bern, Switzerland, returning with a Bronze medal. Alongside their competitive endeavours, the Parrots commissioned a short-film called “Every Time We Play We Win”, exploring the importance and impact the Perth Parrots Floorball Club has made locally in Perthshire. The club also achieved funding to carry on their outdoors fitness sessions, indoors over the winter, encouraging members of the LGBTIQ+ community and allies to work to positively improve their physical/mental health.  And importantly, the club also have a thriving social initiative which seeks to engage, energise and empower the LGBTIQ+ community in Perthshire, with the aim of reducing isolation, making new connections and positively impacting individuals mental health.

George Mortimer Service to Sport Award

Ian Leitch – Athletics

Ian Leitch has had a long and successful association with Perth Strathtay Harriers. From his days as an athlete many decades ago to his all year coaching of generations of young athletes; he has an ability to inspire and motivate all around him. His passion for technical field events resulted in many national standard athletes being nurtured to reach their optimum potential. In addition, Ian (for the last 10 years) has been a leading member of the committee, driving forward the clubs successful para-athletics inclusion programme. Ian however is much more than just an athletics coach, his business acumen has guided the Harriers successfully through many challenging governance situations. In 2023 Ian was awarded with the Honorary Life President of the Harriers in recognition of his years of devoted service.

Bruce Bannerman – Swimming

Bruce is a quietly dedicated volunteer who has been shaping the success of Perth City Swim Club for at least 14 years. An active Committee member for many years, Technical Official and all round problem solver, Bruce is involved in every aspect of Perth City Swim Clubs running and has spent time running courses and training new technical officials as well as AOE operators.   Recently Bruce took on the challenge of the final step in his technical official career and qualified as a referee, a huge achievement and testament to his dedication to the sport. He has secured the club sponsorship through Kilmac for two years, is the sole organiser of our widely anticipated Club Championships every year.

Bob Ellis - Eastern Perthshire Community Sport Hub

Bob was chairperson of the EP CSH since 2010 and recently retired in 2023.  Bob has dedicated may years of service to sport across many different committees, groups and organisations, including the development of the new Recreation Centre.  One of Bob’s most noteworthy achievements is the development of the Fun Fit Families project in Blairgowrie. This idea came to Bob when he saw that young people and their families were not taking part in regular activity leading to a negative impact on their health and wellbeing. Bob applied for local funding and received £5000 to run the project. Fun Fit Families is now thriving in the local community and has received £25k of NHS funding to continue its success.

Pictured: Bruce Gibb from the Perth & Kinross Sports Council with Jim Hunter, winner of the George Mortimer Service to Sport Award 2022.

Image Credit: Stuart Cowper