Maidenhead & Windsor

A bumper crop of Windsor and Maidenhead young sportsmen and women will step up to the "winners rostrum" next week to receive Royal Borough recognition of their sporting achievements.

Twenty budding young Windsor and Maidenhead sports enthusiasts from across the borough – representing sports ranging from rugby, swimming and rowing to chess, trampolining and even dragon boating - will head up a glittering line-up of sporting successes being honoured at the annual Celebration of Leisure and Cultural Achievement.

The 20 budding young sports "stars" will be presented with Royal Windsor and Maidenhead Borough sports bursaries – awarded twice-yearly by the Royal Borough to help athletes with travelling costs, coaching fees and equipment - at this year's presentation evening to be held at Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Altwood Road, Maidenhead on Monday October 29 at 7pm.

Presenting the awards will be Henley-based Olympic rower Sarah Winckless, an Olympic bronze medallist at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and member of the gold medal-winning women's quad at the 2005 and 2006 World Championships.

There will also be presentations to winners of sporting competitions in this summer's 13-19 holiday activities programme including fishing, skateboarding and BMX-flipstyle; and to participants and managers who took part in the Berkshire Youth Festivals.

A number of Windsor and Maidenhead schools awards will also be on the programme including:

Charters and Windsor School Sport Partnerships – for a teacher and school who have developed high-quality PE and sport
Charters Sports College for its Dreams and Teams programme
Windsor Sports Partnership – for a student who has just been offered a martial arts scholarship.

Recipients of Royal Windsor and Maidenhead Borough arts bursaries – who were presented with their awards earlier in the year - are also in for a special mention during the ceremony. Two of this year's recipients will be performing during the evening – Dan Rhodes playing the piano and Charlotte Luxton singing. Next year the two bursary ceremonies will be held on the same evening.

Two sports coaches with Maidenhead and District Cycling Club – John Percy of Maidenhead and Nigel Shurben of Windsor – are in line for coach bursary awards, and the annual lifetime achievement award will also be announced on the night.

Cllr Jesse Grey, lead member for leisure and culture, said: "I am delighted to see so many young people being rewarded in this way for their dedication and commitment to their chosen sports.

"They have all worked very hard to develop their talents and should be very proud of their achievements. These bursaries will hopefully help them to continue that commitment and enable them to develop their sporting skills even further in the future."

Rowing tops the list of sporting successes in this year's bursary list, with six awards going to:
· Daisy Colsell (16) Old Windsor – a medal winner in national junior sculling tournaments and winner of various local regattas
· Ross Gilmour (17) Old Windsor – gold medallist in national championships and home internationals and bronze medallist at the national schools championships Ross is hoping to step up to the men's lightweight category and represent Great Britain
· Matilda Horn (14) Windsor – a sculler for the last three years, Matilda has taken part in local regattas and in doubles at national level
· Francesca Lovely (15) Windsor – winner of 200m races in singles, doubles and quad events at both national and international events
· Ertan Hazine (15) Maidenhead – bronze medallist in the pairs at the National Schools Regatta this year and won gold at July's home counties event in Ireland
· Toby Johncox (16) Oakley Green, Windsor – member of a winning team at both local regattas and the national championships in 2003 and 2004, Toby has represented Great Britain on numerous occasions.

Tennis boasts four bursary recipients:
· Chloe Lant (10) Maidenhead – ranks in the top seven players nationwide in the under-10 category, number 4 in Berkshire under-12s and 150th in the country at under-12
· George Hedley (10) Maidenhead – currently ranked number 1 in Berkshire, George has also represented the county as the number one seed
· Shona Young (13) Maidenhead – represents Berkshire County under-14 and under-18 tennis team and ranked in the top 100 nationally.
· Lindsey Young (11) Maidenhead – represents Maidenhead Tennis Club's under-12 and under-114s and ranked 62 in under-12s nationally.

Swimming – two bursary recipients:
· Danielle Moore (10) Maidenhead – has competed at county and southern counties level for several years at backstroke events
· Sophie Naish (11) Maidenhead – achieved top ten-year-old girl at Hereford open meeting this month, and has qualified for 13 events at the county championships this year and eight at the South East Regional Championships.

Other sports represented:
· Anna Holloway (11) – Maidenhead (netball) nominated by St Edmund Campion School as a gifted child with special talents, Anna has been selected to play for Berkshire following a series of trials
· Ainsley Campbell (14) – Old Windsor (athletics/sprinting) – under-15 Berkshire county champion in the 100m and 200m and currently ranked 10th at 400m.
· Patrick Mooney (13) – Sunningdale (rugby) – he has recently been selected to represent London and the south of England this season in matches against north-east England, Cumbria and Wales
· Matthew Wadsworth (7) – Maidenhead (chess) – top rated player in England for his age and plays for various Berkshire county age group teams up to and including under 13s, he has recently been picked to represent England (Under-8 boys) in the World Youth Championships in Antalya, Turkey in November.
· Lauren Love (17) - Maidenhead (trampolining) - Lauren has taken part in trampolining competitions for the last six years and has worked her way up from grade five (regional) to the current position of grade 2 competing at national level.
· Rosie Walsh (13) – Horton (aerobic/gymnastics) – currently mixed pair champion and a member of the British squad. Competed in the French Open championships in May.
· Sam Orgill (15) Wraysbury (dragon boating) –winner of three silver medals for Great Britain in Prague. Sam has recently returned from the World Dragon Boat Championships in Sydney, Australia, where he represented Great Britain in the under-18 category.

For further information about the bursary awards contact Polly Westell, sports development officer, on 01753 860173.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead