The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Treble chance for Taylor and his talented team
Tonight’s the night . . . the night when 11 winners will be announced in the Peterborough Telegraph Sports Awards.
And as the drama unfolds at the city’s Holiday Inn, one man could be toasting an unprecedented treble.
That’s martial arts expert Rob Taylor, who runs a thriving Peterborough club called TASK (Taylor’s Academy of Sport Karate) and who is a seven-times world kick-boxing champion.
Peterborough Telegraph readers have voted him into the top three in Sportsman of the Year, a prize he collected 12 months ago, and in Coach of the Year, and he and his team of top fighters at TASK have also made the final in the Team of the Year category.
It could also be a big night for City of Peterborough Swimming Club (COPS) and Netherton United FC.
COPS have no less than five finalists with Amelia Mona- ghan, a double British champion, leading the charge in Sportswoman of the Year. Last year she was voted Junior Sportswoman of the Year.
COPS also have a contender for the big Sports Personality of the Year prize with their national open water champion Jamie Scholes doing battle against successful Panthers speedway team manager Carl Johnson and long-serving Phantoms ice hockey captain James Ferrara.
Netherton won four trophies last season and that’s earned them a place in the top three for the Team of the Year gong.
Their manager Jon Harrison is also up for Coach of the Year and two of the side’s star players - Mark Baines and Tommy Randall - are in the running for Footballer of the Year.
Up against Baines and Randall is Jess Driscoll from Peterborough United Ladies and she’ll be hoping to make it third time lucky for the fairer sex.
Last year Peterborough Northern Star’s Cassie Steward was voted Footballer of the Year and the year before that it was Jodie Bartle, also from Northern Star.
Athletics, rowing and rugby all have two finalists.
Represting athletics are Peterborough Athletic Club’s popular distance runner Phil Martin in Sportsman of the Year and ace hurdler Freddie Fraser from Nene Valley Harriers in Junior Sports Personality of the Year while the rugger boys in contention are Peterborough Lions forward Tom Lewis (Sportsman of the Year) and Peterborough Rugby Club’s hard-working junior coach and fixture secretary Simon Potter (Unsung Hero).
Peterborough City Rowing Club duo Alice Mason and Kathryn Lindgren are up against footballer Will Palmer for the Disabled Achiever of the Year prize.
The new Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by the Army’s ‘Desert Rats’, is a battle between highly respected martial arts instructor Ian Parker, football servant Tommy Flynn and boxing guru Kevin Sanders.