Golden year for Shetland athletes celebrated at prize-giving evening
SHETLAND Amateur Athletics Club celebrated the achievement of its members across the past 12 months at a special event in Whiteness and Weisdale Hall recently.
Competition for trophies was keenly contested after a bumper year for Shetland’s athletes, including the 2025 Island Games in Orkney and several national competition victories.
Athletics club chairwoman Elaine Park said the celebration, held in late May, is a “really important event in our calendar.”
“We stop to applaud our athletes, our coaches and volunteers and everyone who contributes to the season,” she said.
“We had real issues this year deciding who to award the special trophies to – a wonderful headache to have – as we had so many choices across local, regional, national and international competition in a season where our junior inter county team and island games team were particularly outstanding.
“We recognise openly that for our younger athletes awards like this only tell the story of a snapshot in time, contributing to their overall development in a sport which sees performance peaks in their 20s and 30s – its all about demonstrating what our athletes can do now and what they can reach for in the future.”
The evening began with cross country series recognition, club championship medals and culminated in the age group category awards and special awards.
It was sponsored by NorthLink Ferries who had also donated the newest trophy to be presented, for the senior athlete of the year.
Bobby Laurenson, who won silver for Shetland in the men’s 400m race in Kirkwall last July, was the recipient of the trophy after a stellar year.
Junior athlete of the year went to teenager Kian Redman, who has impressed on the local and national stage, and was nominated for the Shetland sportsperson of the year prize.
Young athletes Abbie Taylor and Eva Thompson shared the most meritorious prize after punching well above their weight to clinch silver and bronze in the women’s long jump at the island games.
Two more Orkney medal winners walked away with the two remaining prizes. Katie Dinwoodie, who took home a trio of medals from Kirkwall last summer, collected the award for outstanding contribution to athletics on Friday.
And Layla Todd, who defied an ankle injury to win bronze in the women’s 5,000m race, deservedly lifted the trophy for special achievement.
A full list of winners can be seen below:
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