Olympic Mountain biker Charlie Aldridge has been announced as Sports Personality of the Year, in the 2024 Perth and Kinross Sports Awards held on Friday 7th March at Perth Art Gallery, George Street, Perth.

The Awards, in partnership with Perth and Kinross Sports Council, and now in their 35th year, recognise the achievements of athletes, volunteers and clubs from across Perth and Kinross.

Phil Coleman, Service Manager from Live Active Leisure commented:

“It was an absolute honor to announce Charlie as winner of Sports Personality of the Year 2024. With multiple World Cup wins and a top ten result in his Olympic debut year, Charlie's racing success is another fantastic example of the Olympic talent that emerges from Perth & Kinross.

The evening highlighted the many incredible sporting achievements from local athletes, as well as the phenomenal effort volunteers, coaches and club officers contribute to our wonderful sporting landscape that is more vibrant than ever.

Phil Coleman continued:

Once again, the calibre of our finalists was high and each category proved to be extremely competitive. The event highlighted the outstanding achievements of our local athletes and the unwavering commitment of our coaches, volunteers and sports clubs. We were delighted to return for a fourth year to Perth Art Gallery to welcome guests and finalists and celebrate our winners. Huge thanks to the Perth & Kinross Sports Council for supporting the event.

THE WINNERS OF THE 2024 AWARDS

1. Volunteer of the Year

Lucy Rogers (Tay Rowing Club)

As Club Captain, Lucy gives countless hours each week to lead the club’s Learn-to-Row, Return-to-Row, and Junior coaching programmes. A committed coach she makes sure that the participants have all the information that they need and provides a friendly welcoming environment for all.

As a dedicated committee member, Lucy also ensures the smooth day-to-day running of Tay Rowing Club. This includes organising all club rowing sessions to ensure that everyone safely gets out on the water, leading on all club strength and conditioning programmes to improve performance, managing all club entries into races, and providing coaching sessions to crews leading up to races and events. 

2. School Team of the Year

Strathallan School Girls Tennis Team

The Strathallan School 1st Girls Tennis Team were crowned North Regional Champions after winning the Regional Finals in Sunderland in March 2024. The team qualified after defeating other Scottish schools to qualify. In May the girls team won the Scottish Schools Championships. After qualifying as Scotland representative, the team competed at the National Finals in Nottingham. Impressively, the girls won 27 of 29 fixtures in 2024.

3. Chuck Hay Team of the Year

Perth City Juniors Netball Club - Under 15 Team

The U15 teamwon the Scottish Youth Cup title for a second year running and managed to win every league they entered throughout 2024. This includedthe U15 Central Netball Association Division 1 League, U15 Perth & Kinross Netball Association League and the Netball Dundee Junior League.

4. Young Sports Personality of the Year

Connie Urquhart (Highland Dancing)

Connie from Scone has had an outstanding 2024 with the highlight undoubtedly being 5th place in the Juvenile World Championships inAugust. Connie was a winner of an amazing nine major Championships in 2024 including UK Champion, European Champion (age 14) and All England Champion (U16) as well as securing top 5 placings in otherChampionshipsand winningnumerousHighland Games competitions.

5. Veteran Sports Personality of the Year

Paul Haslam (Triathlon)

Perth Triathlon Club member Paul, competes in the 65-69 age category and has enjoyed success in many races at home and abroad in 2024, including age group gold in the British Duathlon Championships, age group gold in three Scottish Championships (sprint triathlon, standard triathlon and aquathlon), age group silver in the European Middle Distance Duathlon Championships and two age group bronze European Championships medals in Sprint & Standard Triathlon.

6. Disability Sports Personality of the Year

Steve Key (Inchture Bowling Club)

Steve from Inchture has had an amazing 2024, includingselection to represent Scotland for the first time in the Parasquad. In May, Steve made his debut in a test match against Ireland, remaining unbeaten in all his matches to help Scotlandsecure a convincing win.  Steve is the only bowler in the squad who uses a wheelchair. In September Steve went on to be crowned National Lawn Bowls Champion in Aberdeen, defending his 2023 title in a top-class field of wheelchair bowlers.

7. Sport for Change Award

Perth Parrots Floorball Club

The Perth Parrots Floorball Club have been working tirelessly to build strong community links throughout Perth & Kinross so that more people from the LGBTIQ+ community feel inspired to take part in sport and physical activity. This has seen the club work closely with school LGBTIQ+ groups to host an inter-school floorball competition, with the vision of establishing the first LGBTIQ+ youth sports group in Scotland. The club’s efforts to raise the profile of LGBTIQ+ sport led to the club helping to arrange, and feature in, the Unicorn exhibition at Perth Museum and members ran stalls at community events at the AK Bell Library and Perthshire Pride, advertising multiple free floorball taster sessions and social opportunities. 

8. Coach of the Year

Phil Carson (Salle Ossian Fencing Club)

Phil is head coach of Salle Ossian Fencing Club leading sessions six times a week. His passion for coaching is such that in 2024 he completed a Masters in Sports Performance Coaching and has been invited by Scottish Fencing to assist in a coaching review of the sport.Phil supports many athletes at the club, with members bringing home numerous gold, silver and bronze medals from the 2024 Scottish Open and a similarly impressive medal collection from the Scottish Youth Championships.

9. Youth Leadership Award

Ava Marshall (Netball)

Participating in a number of roles throughout the year including coach, umpire, fundraiser and event volunteer, Ava is directly involved in school, club, local authority and NGB sports programmes. Ava coaches the Bertha Park High School S1 - S3 netball teams in after school sessions, with the S1 and S3 teams making it to the Quarter & Semi Finals of the Scottish Schools Cup.Ava also volunteered on Sunday mornings, supporting the U11 Perth City Netball Team. She successfully achieved her 100-hour Saltire Award in June and at the end of the year totalled an amazing 174 hours. Her dedication not only won her the 2024 Sports Volunteer of the Year at Berth Park High School but also led to her being selected to be part of a University of Edinburgh project group, where she was able to use her experiences from sport to support the development of technology to combat teen loneliness.

10. George Mortimer Service to Sport Award

Ann Dickson (Perth City Swim Club)

Former PE teacher Ann has been head coach with Perth City Swim Club for over 30 years and in that time has led swimmers to the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games. She has consistently placed swimmers on Scottish and British Youth teams and latterly Scottish and British Senior teams most notably Commonwealth, European, World and Olympic medallist Stephen Milne, Gold Coast swimmer Scott McLay and Camilla Hattersley who competed at Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018.

Ann is passionate about creating the best environment for her swimmers and drives a hard-working culture in sessions. She works hard to mentor coaches to be the best they can and encourages swimmers to get involved with coaching, to harness their knowledge and passion in the sport, for the next generation.

11. Sports Personality of the Year

Charlie Aldridge (Mountain Biking)

Crieff mountain biker Charlie Aldridge competed at the Olympic Games in his first full year as a senior athlete.Brilliant performances at the 2023 Glasgow World Championships put him in the frame for Olympic Selection as well as attracting theattention of the Cannondale Factory Racing team, who signed Aldridge for the 2024 season.  In Paris on the Élancourt Hill, Aldridge had a remarkable Olympic Games debut, finishing in eighth place.