Salute to sporting heroes
Town stars honoured
Amateur sports stars from across the town were out in force on Saturday night at the East Kilbride Sports Personality of the Year awards.
And it was cyclist Kyle Johnston who wheeled away with the top prize as he was crowned the overall winner at the Village Theatre.
He beat boxer Ali Tammam to the adult male prize and won over the judges to take the winners’ shield ahead of the adult female champion, taekwondo star Stephanie Willis.
Kyle was part of the Team Pursuit squad which won the 2017 National Track Championships and he enjoyed multiple wins in the Scottish National Track League, breaking two Scottish records in the process.
But it was big night for Stephanie as well as she claimed the adult female trophy for the second time, following her win in 2012.
In 2017 she won bronze at both the world and European Championships, as well as winning three golds at the Scottish Championships.
Her success continued at the Dutch Open with three silver medals and a bronze. All medals were gained across the disciplines of patterns, sparring and special technique.
On top of her competitive exploits, Willis is one of the lead instructors at the town’s Master Hutton Fitness, guiding children as young as three to success at events across the country.
She beat off competition from Glasgow City Football Club and Scotland goalkeeper Lee Alexander, combined events athlete Anna Forbes and disability badminton star Diane Gillan to win the category.
Meanwhile, Peter Connolly was crowned coach of the year for his work with East Kilbride Table Tennis Club. Having committed more than 20 years to the club, 2017 saw him guide their junior team to the West of Scotland league and enter a team into the senior leagues for the first time in years, where they managed a mid-table finish.
Hockey player Andrew Lochrin collected the under-18 male prize after starring for Uddingston last year. He won the club’s player of the year prize at 16, beating senior internationalists from Australia and Malaysia, and represented Scotland at U16 and U18 level.
Lucy Ross maintained East Kilbride Amateur Swimming Club’s longrunning success at the awards with the under-18 female award. She won five golds, one silver and one bronze medal at the Scottish National Age Group Championships, adding to an impressive tally of 13 golds and eight silver awards at the West District Short and Long Course Championships.
In the under-12 male category badminton ace Alfie Martin took the prize and athlete/netball star Meghan Porterfield won the female category.
Club of the year went to EK Trampoline Club, while EK Athletic Club and St Kenneth’s Primary School’s athletics squad won senior and junior team of the year, respectively.
A special services to sport prize was awarded to Strathaven Dynamo chairman Frank McGraw and EK Gymnastics Club’s Susan Heaney claimed the administrator of the year gong. Curler Norman Whitfield won the veteran of the year accolade.
EK Sports Council chairman Jim Ballantyne said: “Congratulations go to all our winners, who are very deserving of their awards.
“I’ve seldom seen anyone quite so pleased to win this award as Kyle, so I’m delighted for him to win the overall prize.
“It was another very successful evening. Calderglen Jazz band were excellent, as was our MC Cliff Smith, and I’d like to thank all our presenters for taking the time to support these awards.”