Sports Awards maintain their magnificent standard
All the superb photographs in this article curtesy of Martin Cavaney Photography.
Amazing sporting achievements from across the County were recently celebrated at the eighth annual Sport Pembrokeshire Awards in front of a large, enthusiastic and knowledgeable audience.
Hosted by Sport Pembrokeshire - Pembrokeshire County Council’s sports development service - this year’s awards attracted more nominations that ever before, across a wide variety of sports.
Over six hundred people turned up to celebrate the outstanding talent of the County’s sportspeople at the prestigious event at Folly Farm, which was organised by Ben Field and his colleagues in County Hall, and presented by Cllr Huw George and Bill Carne.
Mark’s footballing achievements rightly honoured . . .
One of the highlights from among those recognised was former professional football player, Mark Delaney, who was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mark played for Goodwick United, Carmarthen Town, Cardiff City and finally Aston Villa, where he is now the coaching organiser for their under 7s to 11s and coaches their talented under 16 side.
He was only at Cardiff City for 28 matches before John Gregory took him to Aston Villa and he established his first team place very quickly.
Highlights recalled
One highlight of his 158 games there was playing for Villa in the last FA Cup Final to take place at the old Wembley Stadium, although they lost to Chelsea.
Another of Mark’s highlights was representing Wales 36 times after his debut in 1999 – and he was honoured with the captaincy as an added bonus.
His award was announced and presented by Geoff Williams, the Head of BBC (Wales) Sport, who also provided some superb footage to illustrate mark’s involvement at the highest level.
In accepting the honour, Mark spoke warmly about his pride but said that he was humbled to see so much sporting ability on offer from young people, which put his award in the shade!
Moving moments in Chairman’s Award . . .
Another of this year’s winners was Christopher Gouldsmith, recipient of the Chairman’s Special Achievement Award which was announced by Cllr Jamie Adams, the leader of Pembrokeshire County Council and presented by Cllr Tom Richards, the council chairman.
Christopher and identical twin brother, Jonathan, grew up the best of friends and both had successful careers in the Army.
Christopher was a Corporal with the Royal Engineers and Jonathan a Lance Corporal with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME).
In April, 2011, Jonathan returned home to celebrate winning a services’ skiing championship but tragedy struck during a night out in Llanelli when he was hit by a taxi and killed.
Three years on, Christopher decided to honour his brother’s memory and take on a mammoth marathon challenge. He ran 10 marathons in 11 days as part of the ‘Run Goldie, Run’ challenge.
. . . Mammoth undertaking recognised
On September 15th this year, Christopher began his mammoth undertaking in Kinloss, Scotland - which is where incidentally he and Jonathan trained with Great Britain’s cross country skiing team – and less than a fortnight and 524 miles later he finished in his home town of Haverfordwest.
Christopher wanted to raise £20,000 for the REME Charitable Trust - which helped support his family when they lost Jonathan - and Combat Stress, the Mental Health Charity for ex-service personnel.
Apt quotes from Cllr Elwyn Morse and organiser Ben Field
Cllr Elwyn Morse, Cabinet member for Sport and Leisure said the awards recognised not just the hard work and effort that went into sport in Pembrokeshire but also the sporting heroism that often went with it.
“We have an exceptional standard of award winners this year, who epitomise the very best of sporting endeavour,” he said. “Again, it proved to be a very emotional evening.”
Ben Field, Manager of Sport Pembrokeshire said the success of the awards scheme was due to the many coaches, parents and volunteers that kept community sports clubs going right throughout the year.
“It’s down to them that grass roots sport in Pembrokeshire is alive and kicking,” he said.
“I would also like to thank all of my team for their efforts, especially on the night, in helping to make the evening such a success.”
“Thanks also go to the Gold Ambassadors for their involvement, who spoke so well, the Commonwealth Games Baton Carriers, who were interviewed on stage by Bill Carne, the ‘K Crew’ from the Kelly Williams School of Dancing, plus Commonwealth Games participants Charlene Jones (Boxing), Harry Owen (Gymnastics) and Shawnee Bourner (Pistol Shooting)