31 October 2013

World 400m Champion Christine Ohuruogu’s coach Lloyd Cowan is one of six athletics related nominations for the prestigious 2013 Sports Coach UK Coaching Awards. Cowan, who guided the 2008 Olympic champion to her gold medal performance in Moscow this summer is one of three finalists for High Performance Coach of the Year.

Carol Jackson is nominated for a Lifetime Achievement Award, while Sonya Ellis is a finalist in the Performance-Development Coach of the Year section. Anna Robertson, Ed Thompson and Monika Yarnell are all finalists for the Community Coach of the Year award.

Cowan, who competed as an athlete at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, masterminded a memorable season for Ohuruogu, who set a new British record of 49.41 in being crowned world 400m champion for the second time in Moscow in August. She was also part of the GB & NI women’s 4x400m relay team that won gold at the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg in March and won the British title as well as IAAF Diamond League events in both Birmingham and London.

The former hurdler also coaches a large group of athletes including Ohuruogu’s younger sister Victoria, who was selected for the GB & NI 4x400m relay squad at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow at the age of 20, and 19 year old Bianca Williams, who she set big personal bests over 100m and 200m and represented GB & NI in the 200m at the European Under 23 Championships in Tampere, Finland, as well as being part of the 4x100m relay squad in Moscow.

High jump coach Carol Jackson is a finalist for the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of a 35 year career that has seen her develop athletes from the under 15 age group right up to senior level and guide seven athletes to World or European Junior Championships.

Jackson, who is also involved in staging the annual Bedford International Games event, recently won an award for Services to Coaching at the England Athletics Hall of Fame Awards and coached Olympic bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz earlier in his career.

Sonya Ellis, who was runner up in the 2012 Sports Coach UK Community Coach of the Year award, is this year a finalist in the Performance-Development Coach of the Year category. Ellis is founder of the South West Athletics Academy where she coaches combined events as well as having a large group of athletes covering a number of events at Exeter Harriers and Exeter University. She has been involved in athletics for over 30 years and now mentors other coaches to help them to develop.

Three athletics coaches have been named on an eleven-strong shortlist for Community Coach of the Year. Volunteer coach Ed Thompson is nominated as a result of his excellence in coaching pole vault to young athletes in Wales, helping a number of national champions and splitting his time across Cardiff and Swansea in order to coach a wide number of athletes.

Monika Yarnell, a volunteer Run Leader at Bearbrook Running Club, is a finalist thanks to the creation of a beginner’s running night with 100 attendees and the new ‘on the run’ club. She has enabled huge numbers of people to take their first steps into running and then continues to help them develop.

Finally, Anna Robertson is named as a finalist in the Community Coach of the Year category thanks to her involvement in three sports; netball, cricket and athletics.

Peter Stanley, British Athletics Head of Coaching and Development, said: "The fact that six athletics coaches have been nominated highlights the number of great coaches that are willing to give up their time to develop themselves and help our athletes succeed and fulfil their potential. We are fortunate to have such a wealth of top athletics coaches in this country.

"I’d particularly like to congratulate Lloyd on this nomination; he has shown over a number of years that he is one of the best coaches in the UK and 2013 has been an extra-special year with Christine winning such a memorable gold medal at the World Championships."

The awards will be made following decisions from an expert judging panel and presented at the awards event at the Montcalm Hotel at Marble Arch in London on Tuesday 3 December.

For more information go to: http://www.sportscoachuk.org/people-who-develop-coaches/events/uk-coaching-awards/uk-coaching-awards-2013-supported-gillette