Olympic swimmer Luke Greenbank crowned sports personality of the year at Cumbria Sports Awards

The Cockermouth star received the prestigious award in the 2021 Cumbria Sport Awards.

Greenbank was acclaimed for his superb performances at the Tokyo Olympics, where he won a silver medal in the 4x100m medley and a bronze medal in the 200m backstroke.

The 24-year-old has credited Cockermouth Swimming Club, where he spent his formative years, with a major part in his success.

He is the latest winner of the top prize in the county's sports awards which are organised by Cumbria County Council’s Active Cumbria team.

He follows past winners such as Ben Stokes, Helen Housby, Nick Miller, Lauren Smith, Brad Singleton, Tom Younger, Oliver Turvey and Paul Nixon.

Further award winners have been crowned in 13 different categories, which recognise "the outstanding commitment and achievements of individuals, clubs, coaches, volunteers, schools and community groups in Cumbria sport in the past year."

The Performance of the Year Award went to fell runner Hannah Horsburgh, from Braithwaite, who won all four races and set course records each time  as she won the 2021 English Fell Running Championships - also winning the 2021 British Fell Running Championships' womens' race by a huge margin, and finishing fourth overall - the best ever finish by a female athlete.

She will now compete for Team GB in the World Mountain Running Championships in Thailand.

This year’s Junior Sports Personality of the Year went to Ulverston athlete Jessica Bailey.

She won the English Schools 3000 metres, is the England Athletics U17 3000m champion, a silver medallist at the British U20 3000m and a Home Countries fell race winner in Northern Ireland whilst representing England.

She follows past junior sports personality winners such as Dean Henderson and Georgia Stanway.

The Disability Performance Award went to shot putter Anna Nicholson.

Anna, from Brampton, competes in the F35 classification for shot put and discus - a category for athletes with cerebral palsy or similar disabilities that mainly effect their legs.

This year she competed in the Paralympics in Tokyo, throwing a season's best to finish sixth. She is now training for next year’s World Championships.

The team of the year award went to Workington Bowling Club.

They have enjoyed a hugely successful year, winning the county mixed pairs, county men's junior under-25s, ladies' county singles, ladies' county pairs, men's county pairs, men's county triples, men's county fours, and the men's national 4s winners.

Hensingham ARLFC U16 team were named junior team of the year.

The award is in recognition of their great season, going unbeaten throughout the year, winning their league, and the North East Cup.

Coach of the year is Workington karate coach Mark Stevens.

Judges said he "has been making a difference, not just to performance levels, but also on his students' outlook.

"Over the last 12 months, he has been coaching karate in gardens, yards, or anywhere else that is safe, ensuring the well being of his students is front and centre of his delivery. He has been building skills, mentoring, increasing confidence, and maintaining and improving the wellbeing of all his students during these challenging times."

The Service to Sport Award was awarded to Flimby's Tom Armstrong from Cumbria Squash.

"He has given his services to Cumbria Squash for an amazing 50 years," judges said.

"He has been involved in many different activities including managing the county leagues, overseeing the county and junior county training programmes, leading on the inter-county competitions, as well as leading the county organisation through a significant legal restructure, ensuring it is fit for purpose moving forward.

"He has been a true stalwart of squash in the county."

The Becky Underwood Volunteer of the Year award was given to Julie Labbett, a British Cycling volunteer from Penrith. 

"She is a British Cycling Breeze Champion & Breeze Ambassador," judges said. "She is well organised, friendly and re-assuring with a great amount of knowledge of cycling and the areas she is riding in.

"This alone makes the women attending her rides feel comfortable and relaxed and keeps them engaged in cycling.

"She is out whatever the weather the rain and wind won't stop her rides which shows her total dedication to cycling, and she has led over 500 rides over the last eight years."

The award for community club or group of the year went to Penrith Netball Club.

"They have completely turned their club around in the last 12 months," judges said.

"Covid-19 meant that they couldn’t play or train, and their participant numbers dropped massively. In June 2021, they held their AGM and decided they would merge with another group from their town. This brought in an additional 15 new members, and a completely new outlook. They are now much more social and have increased their membership to over 110 members aged 11 to 70 plus."

The Active Education award went to St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Ulverston, who "put sport and physical activity at the heart of their school".

Judges added: "They have incorporated physical activity into their curriculum and have also loads of extra-curricular opportunities for their pupils to be active. They’ve recently even installed a 100-metre running track on the school site to help them with their daily mile activities for all pupils.

"They have an active playground as well as an outdoor gym for pupils to use and are seeing the benefits in their pupils physical and mental wellbeing, as well as their learning."

The Special Award was given to Gary McKee, from Cleator Moor, for his extraordinary achievement of running 110 marathons in 110 days, raising over £200,000 for MacMillan Cancer Support, and his local hospice.

Gary McKee

"His amazing efforts have inspired others to get active, and his efforts have been recognised by TV and media, as well as legends such as Sir Mo Farah."

Gary is now planning to run an incredible 365 marathons in 2022 - one each day of the year.

Three Rising Star Awards, meanwhile, were made to talented athletes who have demonstrated their potential during the year.

Ruben Razzetti from Hesket Newmarket, who is excelling in orienteering, was recognised.

A Border Liners Club member, he has won numerous races during the year across all parts of Cumbria. He was also selected to attend a three-day Badaguish summer training camp by his governing body, as well as being selected to join the GB Talent North Squad.

The second rising star is trampoliner Emily Trotter from Carlisle Trampoline Club, who won a bronze medal at the virtual Dutch Open event, and gold at the V-Tramp International event, cementing her place in the GB national squad.

The third rising star award went to athlete Anna Mason from Branthwaite, who competed in the 1500m at the English Schools Championships and capped a fine performance with a time of 4m.31.38s, and also competed in the England Athletics U20 Championships and in three Grand Prix fixtures.

Richard Johnston, chair of the judging panel, said: “The awards are an excellent opportunity to celebrate the enormous effort and talents of the sporting stars of Cumbria.

"We had some great nominations for the awards this year, and I know that our judging panel had a real task to choose all of the deserving winners.

"It just goes to show what great talent and dedication to sport that we have in the county.

"The support of the media, and our sponsors continue to make these awards a massive success, acknowledging the quality of our major sports performers and our emerging talent, as well as recognising the very important role played by the army of volunteers and coaches in Cumbria”.

Sponsors for this year's awards include LocalIQ, Active Cumbria, New Balance, GLL, BBC Radio Cumbria - who have revealed successive winners on air this week - Cumbria County Council, South Lakeland District Council, Eden District Council, Allerdale District Council, Carlisle City Council, Lakes College and Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation.