Sportsmen and women from all over the county came together to celebrate Somerset’s sporting heroes at the annual SASP Sports Awards back in 2014.
The awards evening at Taunton School covered a range of categories, from school sport to young volunteers.
Taunton was well represented, with five athletes and coaches picking up awards in their respective fields.
Minehead archer Jaibez Macriner, then aged 17, won the TS5C Young Sports Person of the Year award after reaching fourth place in the Great British rankings.
He is ranked number one in Somerset and finished 17th in the European Archery Festival this year.
Taunton AC chairman Mike Rogers picked up the club volunteer of the year award for his sterling work in taking the club forward, including the development of a new clubhouse.
Mike was not the only winner from Taunton AC, as javelin coach Simon de Wilton won the performance coach of the year award for his work with some of the region’s finest young athletes.
Among his group of future stars, Simon coached under-15 Taunton athlete Laurie Dawkins to gold at the English Schools National Championships, with a best distance of 38.37m in the UK rankings for 2013.
Julian Bellew, of Somerset Disabled Cricket Club, was honoured in the outstanding achievement in disability sport category in recognition of his significant contribution to disability sport.
His work in disabled cricket goes back many years, having founded the Somerset Disabled Cricket Club in 1997, and he continued to work tirelessly to ensure that the county team and the club as a whole are a success.
Mark Templeton, who was a North Town Primary School PE teacher at the time, won the contribution to school sport award after being nominated by his pupils.
His outstanding work delivering specialist PE teaching to 420 children aged four to 11 was described as "remarkable," catering for a range of sports, interests, and abilities.
SASP senior manager Matthew Nolan said at the time: "The evening was a great success and gave some of the volunteers who work in sport in Somerset the opportunity to be recognised for all their hard work.
"Though we can’t recognise all the unsung sporting heroes in Somerset, the event was the biggest and best we’ve run so far, and we’ll strive for perfection next year."
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