The University of Ulster Sports Union hosted its annual Colours Sports Awards Ceremony on Saturday (26 May 2012) at the Hilton Hotel in Belfast. The gala ceremony celebrated and rewarded the achievements of both individual and sporting teams at the University.
The Jordanstown Men’s Basketball team picked up the team of the year award on the Jordanstown campus and for the University as a whole.
The club has had an unbelievably successful year winning or making the final in every competition they have entered this year.
The team this year are the Men’s Premier League championship winners, the Irish Intervarsity Championship Winners, Irish Colleges League runners up and Irish National Intermediate Championship winners. In addition to this, eight Elks players have been selected to represent NIU at British University Games.
Amy Foster won the prestigious Jordanstown Silver Salver, which is awarded to the sports-person of the year. Amy is a member of the Athletics club at Jordanstown. She is the NI record holder and a double Irish Senior champion in the 100m and 200m last year.
This year she won gold at three of the Intervarsity events and is also an Irish Intervarsities 200m record holder. Amy was one of the of the Commonwealth games squad which travelled to India last year. Last year she also took part in the World University Games and European team championships.
Rick Browne and Patrick O'Neill jointly picked up the Coach of the year award for their dedicated coaching of the Canoe club and Men’s Basketball at Jordanstown respectively.
Rick has been involved with the Canoe at the Jordanstown campus for the past 13 years.His dedication to the club is unrivalled and he puts a huge amount of hard work into improving the club and increasing their membership.
Patrick has been coaching the Men’s Basketball for two years. He is involved with the Men’s Varsity Basketball, Men’s Premier League, NIU BUCS Home nations and the Junior Elks.
The Jordanstown Gymnastics club also picked up the Jim Allen merit award.
Magee student Stephen Campbell won the coveted President’s Plate, awarded to sportsperson of the year for Coleraine and Magee campuses. Stephen is a blind Paralympic swimmer for Northern Ireland and a member of the Irish Squad for the Paralympics.
Last summer Stephen took part in the European Championships and successfully made it to five finals in five different swimming events setting two Irish records in the process.He is also on course to be selected for the Irish Squad for the World Cup.
Coleraine Men’s Rugby Team picked up the prestigious Hurst Trophy and was named team of the year for the Coleraine and Magee campuses. The Coleraine Men’s Rugby also picked up Sports Union Club of the Year.
This season the 1STXV played in Qualifying 2.This is the third year the club has played in this league and this season the 1st XV successfully won the league.
The club now progresses to Qualifying 1, the highest domestic level of rugby after the Ulster Senior League and the All Ireland League. On the way to winning the league against Omagh the team won 15 games, drew 1 and only lost 2.
Fintan Woods, Sports Union President said:
“The Colours sports awards are the pinnacle of our sporting year. The evening celebrates and rewards not only the achievements of both individual and sporting teams at the University but also the hard work in running sporting clubs throughout the year.”
ENDS
For further information about the awards. please contact Karen McKillop, Ulster Sports Union, Marketing Manager, Tel: 028 9036 6062