Caithness duo land High Life Highland prizes for services to sport
There was double delight for Caithness as two of the county's prominent sports figures scooped prizes at the High Life Highland awards ceremony.
Thurso runner Donna Stewart and Wick swimming coach Joan Manson each received awards for their contribution to sport in the Highlands.
Donna picked up the Volunteer of the Year award while Joan's 40 years of coaching Wick swimmers was recognised with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Coaching and Volunteering.
Donna holds the position of race coordinator for the North Highland Harriers. This role includes a lot of work planning various races in Caithness each year, including the Castle of Mey 10k which attracts over 400 runners, walkers and children, as well as the new Caithness Half Marathon.
By also establishing the Thurso parkrun, she has provided a platform for more people to be active – in particular those who were not active previously. Many of those who take part in parkrun every week had never considered going for a walk/run before and now attend most Saturdays.
She said: "I'm a keen runner myself and after doing the Inverness parkrun I talked to a few other runners about the possibility of setting up one for Thurso.
"In order to get parkrun started and all the kit that was needed to do so, £3000 had to be raised which I managed to get from a number of donors in a very short period.
"That was relatively easy to do as half the money came from North Highland Harriers. We also had to get the permission of the landowner to run the event there as the parkrun is completely off the road.
"We then make sure the event would meet with all the parkrun rules and policies, writing risk assessments, setting up emergency action plans and getting trained up in how to run the event, use the equipment and collate the results.
"We also got the local swimming pool on board who agreed to provide emergency first aid and the use of their defibrillator if required."
Donna also added that unfortunately the annual Castle of Mey 10k run will not take place in 2020.
She said: "We are just taking a year out to regroup and evaluate how to organise the race in the future. There will be no run next year but we hope to put it back on in 2021."
Joan Manson thanked all her fellow coaches and volunteers over the years who have helped and worked alongside her during her 40 years of service to Caithness swimming.
Joan was fundamental in setting up the swimming club in Wick more than 40 years ago and has been involved in coaching young children since then. She has also served on the club committee.
Some of her former swimmers this year swam at Scottish and national level. Max Hagan, who was coached at a young age by her, medalled at this year's British championships. Her swimmers also medalled at Scottish national age groups as well as Scottish championships, district championships and Scottish schools' finals.
She said: "There are far too many to mention but they've all played their part in ensuring that swimming has continued to thrive.
"I'd always liked swimming and attended the open-air pools, such as the Trinkie. One day I saw a notice in the paper asking to start up a club for kids to learn how to swim. I'd two young kids at the time so I put my name down.
"I did give it up for a bit due to working full-time but I was encouraged to go back into it. My level of coaching was in stroke improvement which interlinked with those coaches who had taught children to swim. We would take them up to the next level.
"I'm stopping the coaching now as I'm turning 80 and the swimming association only insures those coaches up until 80 years of age."