With the weekend upon us we thought we’d look at the three nominations for the Sports Personality Award in the run-up to the Examiner Community Awards on June 3. On Monday we will reveal the shortlist in the Courage Award.
The award is sponsored by Hot Tub World, based at Deighton Mills, Leeds Road
Here are the three award nominees:
Saul Muldoon
Saul Muldoon lives, works and breathes sport – and he’s always willing to give up his time to help others of all abilities.
Ten years ago Saul, 42, of Newsome, set up Stadium Runners and since then the club has gone from strength to strength.
Today it has around 120 members who take part in events all over the region. Several recently ran the London Marathon, with the club’s Simon Courtney finishing in an impressive two hours 41 minutes.
Becky Hamer, a Stadium Runner who nominated Saul, said: “He is incredibly committed to the club, working closely with Kirklees Active Leisure to maintain a successful community partnership.
“He co-ordinates the team of qualified run leaders to take out the three groups that meet twice a week, all year round, whatever the weather. He is enthusiastic and supportive to runners of all abilities.
“Saul takes time and care in organising additional, innovative events for the club and is always on hand to offer practical and logistical support. We are immensely lucky to have such a loyal, passionate and committed athlete representing us. He is a humble man who does not flaunt his achievements.”
Saul set up The Woodland Challenge several years ago. It’s an annual six-mile race which attracts runners of all abilities from all over the region and this year around 300 are expected to run at Storthes Hall on Friday, July 10.
At work Saul is the project leader for the Kirklees ‘Active for Life’ initiative which helps individuals with severe mental illness to develop the skills and confidence to become more physically active.
Becky added: “This further demonstrates Saul’s commitment to shaping and changing lives, regardless of culture, background or personal barriers. He is patient, empathic and knowledgeable.”
In October he took part in the gruelling 24-Hour World and UK Solo Endurance Bike Championships in Single Speed Mountain Biking at Fort William, where he came second overall and the first Briton, making him the UK champion.
Amira Mellor
Cycling is in teenager Amira Mellor’s blood.
She has been riding around on two wheels for as long as she can remember.
And mum Rachael, 51, is a competitive athlete at 10, 25, 50 and even 100-mile time trials. She currently holds the BAR (Best All Rounder) title in the British Series.
Amira, 17, has followed in her mother’s tyre tracks on to the competitive cycling circuit – with impressive results. But it’s cyclo-cross, not time trials, where the Huddersfield New College student excels.
Her sport is a mixture of cycling and cross country running, with races consisting of numerous laps of a short circuit with wooded trails, grass, steep hills and other obstacles.
Riders carry their bikes over various parts of the course and women’s races usually last around 40 minutes.
In May 2013, while still riding in mountain bike competitions, Amira’s talent started to get noticed when she took the North of England crown. A month later she won an event in the National Mountain bike series in Shropshire.
She switched to cyclo-cross and never looked back. Last November Amira was selected for the Great Britain Under 23 Women’s squad for the Cyclocross World Cup.
However, it was in Abergavenny, Wales, in January of this year when she made her mark on the world stage by becoming the Junior Women’s British Cycling National Cyclo-Cross champion.
The former Holme Valley Wheelers rider, who now races for Paul Milnes Cycles Bradford Olympic RC, produced a superb performance to win and was even in the running in the senior rankings early in the race.
In May Amira took part in the women’s event at the Tour de Yorkshire.
“It was amazing,” she said afterwards. “I finished 23rd, I’m not quite as good on the road, my sport is definitely cyclo-cross.”
Nick Marsh
Huddersfield golfer Nick Marsh has risen through the ranks to become one of the top amateur players not only in the country, but also the world.
The 21-year-old Fixby player has set golfing alight with his impressive performances and coolness under pressure.
He is currently ranked as the fourth best amateur in England and number 33 in the world.
Nick, who lives in Elland, burst on to the international scene after reaching the last eight in the British Amateur Championship at Royal Cinque Ports in June 2013.
He achieved his lifelong ambition to represent his country four months later when he played for England in Texas.
Since then he has been a regular pick for the England men’s elite amateur squad, representing his country all over Europe and as far afield as Colombia.
Earlier this year he was selected as one of three England players for a five-week tour of Australia, competing for England in the Masters of the Amateurs and the Australian Amateur Championship events.
And he was part of the winning team who took the European Nations Cup at Sotogrande, Spain, in February.
In 2014 he won the Midland Open Amateur Championship by five clear shots, he just lost in the play-off for the Portuguese Championship title and tied for second in the Scottish Open Stroke Play.
However, on an individual level, the highlight of his career so far has been winning the English Amateur Championship at Saunton Sands, Devon, last August.
These top level performances saw him finish runner-up on the Titleist/FootJoy England Golf Men’s 2014 Order of Merit.
He has just been named in the 20-strong squad for the Walker Cup (the amateur equivalent of the Ryder Cup), to face the USA at Royal Lytham & St Annes in September.
