Girl power on show as Oxford’s women clear up at the Oxfordshire Sports Awards 2009

Oxford’s Hannah England is Oxfordshire’s Sportswoman of the Year, sponsored by Fusion- Lifestyle. She was joined by Witney Road Runner Eleanor Hubbert who won Disabled Sportsperson of the Year.

They took top honours on Friday 13th November 2009 at the Oxfordshire Sports Awards which is organised by the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership, and sponsored by Fusion - Lifestyle on Friday 13th November 2009 at The Kassam Stadium in Oxford. The winners of the Oxfordshire Sports Awards 2009 were announced at a glitzy gala awards evening at the Kassam Stadium and the trophies were presented by Jo Thoenes and Brennan Nicholls from BBC Oxford.

22 year old Hannah who won Sportswoman of the Year is a member of Oxford City Athletic Club and a world class athlete, representing Great Britain at the European Team Championships in Portugal where she was selected for the 1500m but doubled up and ran the 800m as well to cover for an injured colleague. She finished 4th in both events. She took second place in the 1500m in IAAF World Athletics Final in Thessaloniki and has set personal bests this year: 1.59.94 in the 800m at the European Team Championships in June 2009, 4.04.29 in the 1500m at the IAAF Monaco Grand Prix in July 2009. Steve Holt, Divisional Business Manager from Fusion-Lifestyle presented the trophy and a bottle of champagne to Hannah, who said, “It's a great honour to win this award. My sport is extremely competitive, but I just hope I can continue to progress and realise my ambitions.”

Oxfordshire sports awards - Eleanor HubbertEleanor (aged 12) is a member of Witney Road Runners Athletics Club. She has competed in the CP (Cerebral Palsy) Sport Grand Prix series events in Bristol, West London, Wigan and Nottingham this year and also took part in the UK Athletics Aviva Parallel Success program and qualified for the 100 metres at the Disability Sports Events National Championships in Blackpool for the under 15 & 17 age groups. She achieved a 100m PB of 20.9 seconds (which is 0.2 seconds outside the CP Sport National age group record.) In addition to this, she achieved a 200m PB of 46.40 seconds and a discus PB of 8.87 metres, both of which make Eleanor the CP Sport National age group record holder in these events. These two records were achieved in the 3rd heat of the Heart of England series, held at Leamington in September, which is an able-bodied event. In March of this year, Eleanor received the Female Athlete of the Year award for the 2008 CP Sport Grand Prix Series.

The Oxfordshire Sports Awards aim to recognise the sporting talent and dedication we have in the county throughout the year. The awards featured special recognition awards for Oxfordshire clubs who had achieved Club Mark and Charter Standard Community Club accreditation. The 35 finalists in the 12 award categories were chosen from over 80 nominations in 2009. The amount of talent and true devotion and enthusiasm for their sport that was seen on the evening was enormous.