2022 Awards celebrate a bumper year of Guernsey sport

Wow what a night! The 2022 Sporting Achievement Awards were a real celebration of a bumper year of Guernsey sport showing the breadth and depth of talent on the island.

From the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to the Football Championship; from the shooting ranges at Bisley to the grass wickets in Guernsey, trophies were awarded to a broad cross section of sports.

The top award of the night, the Guernsey Sports Commission Trophy for the Outstanding Performer of the Year was awarded to Bristol City star Alex Scott whose star has continued to rise during 2022. Dubbed the Guernsey Grealish, Scott is now in this third season at the Robins with Premier League football and further England caps surely only a matter of time.

Top sportswomen of the year and winner of the Guernsey Brewery Salver was Lucy Beere MBE for her stunning performance at the Commonwealth Games winning a hard-fought silver medal – the first Guernsey athlete for nearly three decades to stand on a Commonwealth podium.

Her Team Guernsey colleague Alastair Chalmers was awarded the Richard Burton Salver for the outstanding individual sporting achievement of the year by a sportsman. After producing his fastest season opener ever in April, Ala ran an exceptional 48.88second Island record at the World Athletics Challenger meet in Belgium in May, won a third straight British title in June, and represented Great Britain at the World Championships in Oregon in July. But the best was yet to come. 22-year-old Chalmers made history by becoming the first Sarnian to win a medal in the sport of athletics – he came storming back from Covid to snatch bronze in the 400m hurdles.

Top young sportsperson of the year was golfer Ollie Chedhomme following a tremendous year becoming the first guernsey player to win the Hampshire Boys Championship wince Peter Wilcox in 1978.

The Beau Sejour Trophy for the outstanding team performance by a team of under 18s was awarded to the Guernsey Cricket Under 17 team for their fantastic run in the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup European Division 2 Qualified played on home soil in July. Although they narrowly missed out to Italy in the final their hard-fought win over Norway in the semi-final saw them win promotion to Division 1.

Guernsey Cricket also took home the Sports and Nautical Events Shield for their hosting of the World Cup qualifier event.

The Sports Commission Small Team trophy was awarded to the Ladies Commonwealth Games Swimming Relay Team of Orla Rabey, Tatiana Tostevin, Laura Le Cras and Molly Staples who qualified for the finals of both the 4 x 100m freestyle and medley relays. Up against the big swimming nations the girls finished in 7^th and 6^th respectively setting new Island records in the process.

The Trophy for teams of over 4 competitors went to St Martin’s AC for their unforgettable 2021/22 season. They became the first team since Vale Rec in the early 80s to finish a Priaulx League campaign undefeated as they mounted a successful defence of the island’s top-flight title. And it got even better at the Track in May when they were crowned CI champions with victory over St Clement - the first Guernsey team to lift the Upton Park Trophy in a decade.

It was great to see strong nominations for both our para-sport awards this year. Sight impaired climber Michael Ellis was awarded the Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson Trophy for the Para-Sport athlete with a physical impairment. Michael placed second at his debut climbing competition after he headed to Wales in September for the third round of the national paraclimbing series. Michael competed in two qualifying rounds before reaching the final with his guide, Chris Harvey.

There were joint winners of the Ferbrache & Farrell Trophy for the Para-Sport athlete with a Learning Impairment. Badminton’s Clint Gardner and Jay Webber took home the trophy after their stellar performance in the Special Olympics GB Summer Series of Sport where they both won gold in their respective singles events then combined to take gold in the mixed doubles.

The Dave Dorey Trophy is awarded for the outstanding contribution to sport and Guernsey’s only international blue badge Table Tennis umpire Ben Foote beat off strong competition to take the title.  Ben has had a busy couple of years travelling the world to officiate at some of the top events including the ITTF World Championships in Houston, the European Youth Top 10 in Tours, France, and the Dusseldorf Open last month but the highlight of Ben’s year was umpiring the men’s gold medal match between England’s Liam Pitchford and India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July

Rifle shooter Nick Kerins was awarded the Sir John Loveridge Trophy for the sportsperson making the greatest progress in the year. Having reached his first final for the HM Queens prize at the National Championships at Bisley Nick excelled in the testing conditions, and at one point after the first 900-yard distance looked like he was in contention for a win. After another excellent shoot at 1000 yards, he ended up in 7th place against some of the best shooters in the world.

All in all, it was fantastic evening and a real celebration of sport plus the chance to look forward to 2023 and in particular Guernsey hosting the NatWest International Island Games in July.

You can read citations for all the award nominees here