Last updated at 10:52, Monday, 07 December 2009

NEWCASTLE United goalkeeper Steve Harper won a new legion of fans on Tuesday.

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He wowed hundreds of sports lovers of all ages when he handed out the awards at the Tyne Valley Insurance sponsored Tynedale Sports Council awards

For he used his own example as the seemingly eternal number two to Shay Given at St James’s Park to stress the importance of sticking at sport to win rewards, working hard, and learning to be patient.

Harper had left the treatment table at St James’s Park to attend the ceremony, after going off injured against Swansea on Saturday.

But he didn’t let his bad back prevent him from signing scorers of autographs, and posing from dozens of pictures with excited fans.

The Tynedale Farmer Function Suite was packed to the gunwales for the popular awards ceremony, where Stocksfield golfer Chris Paisley was named the district’s outstanding sporting achiever of the year.

The accolade followed the 23-year-old’s sterling efforts for Great Britain and Ireland in their star man in the prestigious Walker Cup clash with the mighty USA.

This earned him not only the Hexham Courant Trophy as sportsman of the year, but also the “victor ludorum” Tynedale Trophy for the top performance of all the winners.

Certificates of merit went to Bardon Mill’s evergreen international iron man, Barry Jameson the European champion at both duathlon and triathlon, many times British truck racing champion Stuart Oliver, and Andrew Richardson from Hexham, who won the Northern jockeys’ championship for the third successive year.

In another tough field, pride of place in the sportswoman of the year section went to Prudhoe’s middle distance runner supreme, Stacey Smith.

Stacey is English U20 1500m champion, and ranked no 1 in the country at both 800 and 1500.

She was away at university, but her father collected the award on her behalf.

Runners-up in that category were Scottish downhill mountain biking silver medallist Angela Coates: from Prudhoe; international judo player from Haltwhistle Carol Drummond, with two gold medals in the British Masters championships; outstanding international whitewater canoeist Sandra Hyslop from Hexham who took an individual silver medal in classic European championships in Italy, and took team gold for Britain and veteran all-round international runner Lynne Marr from Stocksfield

One of the most popular winners was one of the oldest, Margaret Robson, who was awarded the Mike Sharman Trophy as sports personality of the year.

Margaret has been Corbridge Cricket Club scorer for over 50 years, starting with the second team in the late 1950s, and becoming first team scorer in the 1960s.

She was unable to attend the ceremony due to illness -so sports council vice-chairman Brian Tilley took the trophy to her Corbridge home to present it to her there.

Certificates in this section went to Haydon Bridge’s Michael Bolton, a dedicated judo coach for 35 years, and rugby legend Billy Robson from West Woodburn.

The Edward Waite Trophy for the young male player of the year was retained by Stocksfield’s world championship fencer, Matt Henderson.

Matt (16) represented Great Britain in the cadet world championships in Belfast, finishing 30th, as well as showing impressive form in the European championships in Bourges in France.

He was up against a formidable field of certificates of merit winners which included outstanding young canoeist from Ovingham Middle School, Zak Allin who won the British U11 slalom championship on the River Tweed at Selkirk.

Certificates also went to Jak Alnwick, the talented all-rounder from Prudhoe who is not only Northumberland high jump champion and a top notch golfer, but also goalkeeper in the England U16 football squad.

Picking up certificates too were Luke Batchelor, Chris Hignett and James Strong, all of whom helped Hexham QEHS reach the national basketball championship semi-finals

Further certificates went to athletes Josh Brown, a hugely successful runner from Haydon Bridge; Andrew Richardson, who won the senior boys’ Northumberland Schools’ 800m title; Ben Rodgers, of Hexham Middle School, who did the sprint double at the Tynedale schools’ championships, and went on to repeat the feat in the county finals at Gateshead Stadium Greg Urwin, a QEHS pupil who was senior boys’ 400m champion at the Northumberland Schools’ athletics championships and Ian Shevlin, another QEHS runners who won the Northumberland Schools’ 100 and 200m titles, and was also NE Counties 200m champion.

Around the golf courses, certificates of merit went to Jonathon Richardson, who had the best gross score in the county schools’ U16 championship, and Andrew Scrimshaw, who is in the England Schools’ squad, as well as playing for the North of England.

Two more certificates went to QEHS rugby players Ben Ford and Matthew Williams who both had trials for the North of England.

Completing the list of certificate winners were cricketer 18-year-old Liam Pringle, who has established himself as a regular in Tynedale 1st XI, where he was cricketer of the year, and tennis star Robert Docherty, who at 13 was probably the youngest-ever winner of the Stocksfield Tennis Club championship.

The Gordon Brewis Trophy for young girl player of the year was claimed by Hexham Queen Elizabeth High School rower Nicola Lamb.

After enjoying international success as part of a composite crew, Nicola tried her hand as a single sculler, winning the U16 single gold medal at the national championships in Nottingham.

She too faced stiff competition, notably from Halton Lea Gate’s Esther Beale, who at the age of only eight, became the youngest karate black belt in the country, winning a certificate – and also one of biggest rounds of applause on the night.

Another girl just missing out on the main award was top notch judo player from Ovingham Jordan Beck, who was selected for the England cadet squad.

Also winning national recognition was Jenny Wilkes, from Great Whittington, who was selected to play football for England against France.

Further certificates of merit went to Chloe Glendenning, the brilliant canoeist from Wark , all-round athlete Jayne Hansom from Hexham QEHS, who won the U17 high jump, long jump and 80m hurdles at the Northumberland Schools’ championships, and Gina Lamb, who captained both Northumberland and the North-East at rugby, and was selected for an England trial.

Another mini-certificate winner was nine-year-old gymnast Bethany McLaughlin from Prudhoe, who won first place at the North of England Voluntary Level 4 competition,

The final certificate went to all-round sportswoman Charlotte Sadler from Haydon Bridge who celebrated her first year in 300m hurdles by winning the Northumberland Schools’ title. She was also second Northumberland finisher in the North-East schools’ heptathlon championships.

One of the newest awards handed out by Tynedale Sports Council is that for the young sports leader, and once again, the judges had a tough task to come up with a winner.

After much deliberation, the Tynedale School Sports Co-ordinators’ Trophy went to Jake Hanson, an exceptional young man who has qualified as a RYA dinghy instructor when aged only 16.

He now spends hours teaching other young sailors how to rig and sail dinghies at Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club at Blanchland.

Runners-up in this category were canoeist Chloe Glendenning, from Wark, Leean Irving, who is a netball coach and umpire at Haydon Bridge High School, Philippa Kimberley for completing levels 1,2 and 3 of the Sports Leader UK award, Matthew Thompson has also completed levels 1,2 and 3 of the Sports Leader UK at Prudhoe High School, Ben Thornhill, from Haydon Bridge, who was closely involved with Hexham Canoe Club, and Gareth Wade, who has completed levels 1 and 2 of the Sports Leader UK award at Prudhoe,

As ever, disabled sport as well represented, with the Northumberland Playing Fields Association Trophy for sportsman of the year going to Hexhamshire all-rounder Edward Common.

At football, he was player of the year for the Northern Thunder powerchair team, who were runners-up in the national premier league, and gained England trials.

He captained the Percy Hedley table cricket team, leading them to the national finals at Lord’s where they finished third.

At athletics, he won a gold and two silver medals in the national champions in Blackpool.

Also out on his own was Terry Landers, of Hexham Spinal Unit Sports Club, who won the Haydon Dyer Trophy as Disabled Sports Personality.

The Grant Thornton Bobby Wood Memorial Trophy for coach of the year went to Chris Catnach, a coach for over 20 years at Stocksfield Cricket Club, where his activities have helped create 12 qualified coaches, with 150 children coming for coaching sessions

He is also the driving force behind the development of women’s cricket at county level.

Runners up in this section were Dave Higgins, who after a spell as a competitor, returned to a coaching role at Hexham’s Queen Elizabeth High School Rowing Club,and Fergus Oliver, who coaches the Tynedale girls’ U15 and U18 rugby teams,

At club level, the Ted Woodman Trophy for club of the year went to the all-conquering One Life Triathlon Club, which is widely recognised as the best club of its kind in the North.

There was a notable double for One Life, for the club’s veteran ladies’ team of Maureen Parker, Claire Jackson, Sally Dickinson and Angela Wylie took the Tynedale Sports Council Trophy as adult team of the year.

This recognised their success in being crowned national triathlon relay champions in Nottingham.

Runners-up in club section were Allendale Sports Club, which has just opened a £311,000 clubhouse, and Prudhoe Golf Club ,the self-a styled home of champions

A certificate in the team section went to Hexham Golf Club ladies, who won the prestigious T.R. Percy Trophy played for by all the North-East’s clubs for the first time in half a century.

Unusually, there was only one contender for the Ian Turner Trophy for youth team of the year, but Tynedale Rugby Club Colts were worthy winners, for winning a Border Sevens championship for the first time in 20 years.

Competition was much stiffer for the Isobel Iceton Trophy for the high school team of the year.

The trophy went to Haydon Bridge U14 boys’ volleyball team, who went into the national finals at Manchester University, where they eventually finished seventh in the whole country.

Certificates in this section went to Haydon Bridge U16 and U14 boys’ rugby teams, Prudhoe U18 girls’ football,

U15 boys’ football, U15 girls’ cricket and U18 girls’ trampoline team, and Hexham QEHS’s U18 boys’ basketball team,U18 girls’ rugby team, U16 girls’ football team and U16 boys’ coxed four rowing team.

Middle school team of the year for the David Thompson Trophy were Ovingham U11 girls’ KWIK cricket team, who played at Headingley, and were fifth in the country in a competition involving over 27,000 girls.

The final award of the evening, the Stan Calvert Scholarship, was presented by Alex Waters of Tyne Valley Insurance, to 11-year-old British slalom canoeing champion Zak Allin, who is a pupil at Ovingham Middle School

First published at 09:37, Friday, 04 December 2009
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk