The annual Dunfermline & West Fife Sports Council took place last night at the Carnegie Conference Centre and it was great to see so many Pitreavie members nominated in various different categories:
Asda St Leonard Award for U16 - Iona Crawford, Bethany McAndrew, Craig Moriarty, Aimee Scott
The Rotary Club of Dunfermline Junior Team Award - Pitreavie Under 15 Girls Cross Country Team
Services to Sport Award - Vonny Burke
Carnegie Dunfermline Trust Centenary Masters Award - Jane McLeod
Active Fife Sports Coach of the Year Award - Bill Lindsay
Sports Personality of the Year Award - Aidan Thompson
In the Under 16 award all nominees were presented with a trophy however the overall winner was Craig McLean (swimming). Well done to all the nominees it was great to see all their major achivements from last year up on the big screen.
In the Junior Team award the girls were up against the Incas Junior Relay team and the Incas is widely remowned for producing some great talent. The Pitreavie team however came out on top and four very proud girls went up on stage to receive the trophy which will be displayed in the trophy cabinet in the clubhouse.
The team consisting of Sophie Nethery, Iona Crawford, Emily Nicholson and Leah Davie were nominated because of their hard work, commitment and determination over the year. They are a small team and depend on each other to give their all in all of the competitions. If one of them was to not turn up, or do their best then they do not have a team – there are no substitutes or reserves.
Some of their highlights:
Best Fife Results
In the East District League, the girls won their 1st match and were 2nd equal in the 2nd match. After the third match they were 2nd overall behind Edinburgh AC.
The next best placed Fife club is Fife AC who are currently placed 5th in the league. In this league the girls are competing against U15 and U17 girls, this makes their achievement all the greater as they are all under U15 runners. The Fife AC team is a mix of U15 and U17 runners. 60-70 competitors in each of the 3 league matches.
Silver Medal in the East District XCC champs, best placed Fife team, the next placed Fife team was not in the top 5 teams at the event. 40 competitors.
Three team members, Leah Davie, Emily Nicholson and Iona Crawford were selected to represent Scotland East following their performances at the East District champs in the Inter District match on 11th January 2014. Sophie narrowly missed out on selection for this event. Leah and Emily both won team medals at this event with East Scotland coming 2nd in their race.
Best Scottish Results
Gold Medal won in the Lasswade Open Cross Country Championships in November
Silver Medal won in the National Short Course Cross Country championships at Bellahouston Park
Bronze medal winning team in the National Junior Females Relay at Cumbernauld in October 2013 with Leah Davie running up as an U17. There were 81 teams included in this race and 270 competitors.
It is also worth noting that this is the first time Pitreavie has won the Junior Team Award to all credit must go to the girls and their hard work and determination.
In the Masters Award Jane missed out to Isobel Burnett of Carnegie Harriers who I am sure she has competed against many a time.
In the Services to Sport Award all nominees received an award and Vonny Burke represented Pitreavie. Vonny has been a member of the club for forty four years over which time she has had various roles within the club. In recent years you are more likely to see her on the track as a qualified official. For details of Vonny's history at Pitreavie see Vonny Burke.
Next up for an award was Bill Lindsay for the Sports Coach of the Year award. I must say I hardly recognised Bill as he looked very dapper in his suit. Unfortunately he missed out on the award to Alan Russel (tennis) who used to be a Road Runner with Pitreavie. To be honest Bill was looking proud as punch anyway as he coaches three of the Cross Country Team that won the Junior Award. I heard about some of the quotes his team gave when he was nominated and the best one had to be "He is old as my Grandad but can still run faster than me".
The final award of the night was the biggie - the Sports Personality of the Year Award. This award has been won by various Pitreavie Athletes including Francis Smith in 2006 then Eilidh Child from 2007-2013. A new rule means that you cannot be nominated more than three years in a row so Eildh was no longer eligible. Aidan Thompson who just missed out on being young enough to be nominated for the Under 16 award was nominated for this award and was up against swimmer Mark Szaranek. Unfortunately Aidan missed out however I am sure Aidan has a fantastic running career ahead of him and will be nominated again in the future. Mark's major goal at the moment is to achieve the qualifying standard for the Commowealth Games and currently trains nine times a week which shows the standard that Aidan was up against.
Overall is was a very enjoyable evening and great to see so many names associated with Pitreavie in the presentation. The organisers were urging more nominees for next year so athletes do your best, get those PBs and achieve your goals for 2014 and it could be you at the ceremony next year.
I look forward to seeing the Pitreavie U15 Girls Cross Country team name up in gold letters on the winners plaques next time I am in the Kingsgate Shopping Centre.
Well done again to all.
