British track legend Dame Kelly Holmes said yesterday the short-list for FPSG Athlete of the Year could easily have reached double figures. The Herald are media partners for the awards in Glasgow on Saturday 3 November, with the double Olympic champion, who won 800m and 1500m gold in Athens in 2004, guest of honour.
Five athletes are in contention for the main award backed by sponsors FPSG with a trio of track medallists – Eilidh Doyle, Laura Muir and Jake Wightman – joined by hill runner Charlotte Morgan, who won the World Long Distance Hill Champs, and Robbie Simpson, who won Gold Coast 2018 marathon bronze. Holmes will help present the top award on November 3 and is simply relieved she has not been involved in the selection process.
"I am really looking forward to coming to Glasgow in November for the FPSG Annual Awards and helping to present the FPSG Athlete of the Year trophy,’ she told scottishathletics. "It has been such a superb year for so many Scottish athletes – across various events – that the one thing I am glad I haven’t been involved in has been choosing the short-lists!
"As you can see, it is down to five names now and I think any athletics fan in Scotland or beyond looking at it right away will spot how difficult it has been. When you add in other athletes who won medals or broke National Records then maybe the short-list could have gone right up to 8-10 athletes and still been very credible indeed.
"All five of these are great nominations and, as I said, I can see how tough it has been for the Awards panel to come up with a short-list. And there’s a lot of talent there, too, on the age group awards and fine performers in the Masters and Para categories, as well."
Zoey Clark, Maria Lyle, Mark Dry and Eilish McColgan won international track and field medals this year at the World Indoors, Commonwealths or Europeans as well as Doyle, Muir and Wightman, while Beth Dobbin and Chris O’Hare smashed Scottish outdoor Records at 100m and 1500m respectively.
The FPSG Para Athlete of the Year short-list reflects the medal success of Scottish race runners at the European Championships with nominations for Hannah Dines and Gavin Drysdale - with the other two contenders being Maria Lyle and marathon runner Derek Rae. Callum Hawkins won the FPSG Athlete of the Year award in 2017, with Muir, Doyle and Lynsey Sharp having dominated the preceding half-dozen years.
The full list of categories is as follows:
FPSG Athlete of the Year
Eilidh Doyle; Charlotte Morgan; Laura Muir; Robbie Simpson; Jake Wightman
U20 Athlete of the Year
Anna Macfadyen; Alisha Rees; Erin Wallace
U17 Athlete of the Year
Scott Brindley; Kane Elliott; Ellie O’Hara; Keira Waddell
Masters Athlete of the Year
Zara Asante; Fiona Matheson; Charlotte Morgan; Alastair Walker
FPSG Para Athlete of the Year
Hannah Dines; Gavin Drysdale; Maria Lyle; Derek Rae
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