Sporting stars and community heroes recognised at the Lincolnshire Sport and Physical Activity Awards.

Hosted by BBC Radio Lincolnshire presenters Rob Makepeace and Carla Greene, Lincolnshire’s biggest celebration of sport and physical activity was held at the DoubleTree by Hilton on Thursday 11 November.

Organised by Active Lincolnshire and headline sponsored by Lincoln Water Park, the awards, now in their 17th year, recognise the positive impact physical activity has on people’s lives, and celebrate those who actively contribute to the health and wellbeing of Lincolnshire residents.

For us, it is important to support local incentives that encourage people to be active.  It’s not necessarily about the best athletic ability, but for us it is about enjoying what you do and striving to be your best. These awards celebrate commitment and achievement and include community involvement and the passion of all the supporting teams involved. It’s a pleasure to be involved with supporting the incredible athletes, support teams and clubs in Lincolnshire.

Suzi Nightingale, Managing Director, Lincoln Water Park 

To an audience of local businesses, friends and family, nine winners were recognised for their positive impact and contribution to sport and physical activity.

The penultimate award of the evening, Active Champion went to Gemma Warrington.

In October 2020 Gemma Warrington decided to make changes to her health and wellbeing as she was feeling “completely fed up, stressed, anxious, overwhelmed and insecure”. Since October, she has lost an incredible 5st 5lbs and has transformed her life.

Not only has Gemma’s fitness increased, she now has a love for being active.

A delighted Gemma said:

When you get to rock bottom, and you know physically and mentally you have to do something you have to pull yourself out of that hole, and no matter how much anyone tells you to do, unless you want to do it, you won’t do it.

Nothing’s going to change unless you make it change. I think it’s about consistency and commitment to yourself; you don’t have to do it for anyone else, no-one is going to be there saying, “Did you do it?”, “Why haven’t you done it?” “When are you going to do it?” it has to be for you to check in with yourself and make that commitment to yourself every day.

Gemma Warrington, 2021 Active Champion

The awards event is always inspiring and uplifting, and this year was no different. We had over 200 nominations, and the judges had a really tough time choosing the finalists and winners. Everyone here tonight has shown the positive impact sport and physical activity has on people’s daily lives. I want to thank everyone who has participated in the awards, our sponsors, judges. And say a huge congratulations to the finalists and winners who are truly an inspiration and should be so proud of their achievements.

Emma Tatlow, CEO Active Lincolnshire

27 finalists, attended the evening, and were recognised in 9 categories each sponsored and presented on the evening by a local business.Full details of the evening’s winners:

Active Community Award, sponsored by Lincoln Big

The first award of the evening Active Community Award was awarded to Billingborough Community Gym for the support provided to their local community.

The Billingborough Community Gym is entirely staffed by volunteers, and since opening in 2013 has completed more than 400 inductions, and trained several members of the community to become Level 2 Gym Instructors. Any profits made are put back into the facility to purchase, improve and service equipment.

Contribution to Sport & Physical Activity, sponsored by Magna Vitae

Contribution to Sport & Physical Activity was a hotly contested category, and the judges faced some exceptionally difficult decisions. Local businessman Dan Hone, founder of Active Arena, and Roger Michie of Active Nation, were joint recipients of the 2021 Contribution to Sport & Physical Activity Award.

The award gives recognition to someone, or a group of individuals, who have gone above and beyond to continue to provide sport and/or physical activity to support to benefit the health and wellbeing of an individual or group of individuals.

Active Arena opened in August 2020 and the owner Dan Hone a former Lincoln City FC player, worked tirelessly to ensure that the surrounding community would be able to access sport following all government guidelines and ensuring a safe place.

Roger Michie, Business Manager of Active Nation, has had a pivotal role in supporting inclusion. Roger has supported the DISC Disabled Inclusive Swimming Club, has also run a successful Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) project and introduced swimming lessons for those with sensory loss.

Volunteer Commitment Awards, Everyone Active

The Volunteer Commitment Award was awarded to Fina Martinez, Parez, a Coach at Grantham Water Polo Club.

Throughout lockdown Fina was an inspiration; her determination to continue training; led her to promote the couch to 5k for all players; making it fun and interactive; she developed training plans and exercises, that helped keep our young people active and engaged.

As lockdown eased, Fina went on a recruitment campaign for the club looking for new players, appearing on local radio shows, TV news bulletins and approaching all the local secondary schools, promoting Waterpolo. As a result of Fina’s efforts, the club welcomed 32 new players in September.

Workplace Wellbeing Award, sponsored by Active Nation

North Kesteven District Council were the proud recipient of the Workplace Wellbeing Award.The changes and improvements to wellbeing at NKDC over the last 12 months have enabled the team to move from Silver to Gold in the Investors in People Standards, they are finalists in the IIP Awards and the CIPD Awards for their Workplace Health and Wellbeing Programme.

Fundraising Award, sponsored by Chestnut Homes

Lindsay Nearn and Tony Lake were honoured with the evening’s ‘Fundraising Award.

’They signed up for the ‘Don’t Quit, Get Fit’ St Barnabas challenge in January 2021Lindsay, a 47-year-old mum of five lost an incredible 9 stone as part of this lifestyle change and new training regime. Tony, her partner, also lost an additional 3.5 stone.

The pair completed their running challenge in January. They enjoyed it so much that they then went on to complete the National Three Peaks in just over 24 hours in June, and also signed up to scale Mount Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa, next May.

Active Change, sponsored by One You Lincolnshire

The 2021 Active Change Award sponsored by One You Lincolnshire was awarded to Gemma Warrington.

This is an award that rewards an individual who has used sport and physical activity to make a positive change to their lives over the past 12 months.

In October 2020 Gemma Warrington decided to make changes to her health and wellbeing as she was feeling “completely fed up, stressed, anxious, overwhelmed and insecure”. Since October, she has lost an amazing 5st 5lbs and has transformed her life.

Not only has Gemma’s fitness increased, she now has a love for being active.

Active Club Award, sponsored by Bishop Grosseteste University

Long Sutton Cricket Club was the proud recipient of the Active Club Award.

The club has come back stronger than ever from lockdown, and offer countless coaching and playing opportunities for men, women and juniors. The club was also instrumental in a pilot for Girls only All-Stars and Dynamos cricket in the late summer, and also delivered a Women’s Soft Ball Cricket Festival, a fun-filled day attended by over 50 ladies.

Active School Award, sponsored by Branston

The Active Schools Award recognises a school that has pro-actively, and innovatively encouraged pupil participation in sport and physical activity remotely and/or in the school setting.The 2021 Award was presented to Skegness Grammar, for the countless opportunities they promoted to keep students active in Lockdown. They organised challenges for the students, including ‘Ultimate Athlete Competition’, the You’re a Star Wellbeing Challenge’, Virtual London Marathon, a Virtual Sports Day, and even a Virtual Tug of War!The PE staff team even hosted a virtual sports celebration evening and personally delivered the medals to the student houses.

Special Sporting Recognition, sponsored by Ambitions Personnel

The Active Lincolnshire team and judges recognised either individuals in the category of Special Sporting Recognition, sponsored by Ambitions Personnel.  The Special Sporting recognition awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of athletes from Lincolnshire in national and international sporting competitions. The athletes who were recognised on the night were Hollie Arnold, Thomas Talbot, Sophie Wells, Jo Tindley, Sam Atkin, Shona McCallum, Victoria Rumary, and Olivia Clark.