Mid Sussex sporting stars on shortlist for Sussex Sports Awards awards

The black tie event, to be held at The Grand Hotel on Friday November 27th, will once again celebrate the achievements made by Sussex sports stars and welcome special guest, London 2012-heptathlete, Louise Hazel, and regular host, BBC Sussex presenter Danny Pike.

Louise has competed in four major international championships including the 2010 Commonwealth Games where she won the gold medal for England, with a personal best of 6156 points. She will be on hand to inspire the audience and young athletes with her tales and anecdotes as she worked her way up to claim international recognition.

The full list of Mid Sussex-based nominees is:

- Hassocks-based Hurst College 1st XI Cricket Team is shortlisted for the Juice 107.2 Young Team of the Year Award. This year’s 1st XI team did the unthinkable fighting off strong competition from major schools to win a National competition. This competition has been won by huge sporting schools such as Millfield and Shrewbury. Hurst fought all the way to the finals day and defeated a strong Wellington side in the semi-finals and Malvern College in the final. The team also won all bar one game during their regular season and many had the honour of representing the Sussex 2nd XI and U19 squads. One player also went on to receive England U19 Representative caps.

- Haywards Heath-based 1st Central Insurance is shortlisted for the Workplace Challenge Award. The company has been involved in a number of football tournaments and for the past four-years has participated in The Emirates tournament appearing in the final three times; money raised from the tournament is given to a number of local charities including The Arsenal Trust.

In each of these tournaments the company has taken a squad of 14 employees and exposed them all to playing and training at one of the biggest stadiums in the country.

- Burgess Hill-based Sarah Harding is shortlisted for the Sussex County FA Volunteer of the Year Award for her work in the Mid Sussex Youth & Minor Football League. Sarah’s main role is that of Referees Secretary, and over the years she has maintained a pool of over 60 qualified referees so that 99.9% of all League fixtures are allocated an official for their matches each week. She has gained the respect of all of her referees, and they are reluctant to register for any other League. Sarah has ensured that the League has the highest number of qualified referees in youth football in the County. In addition to that, she is the main administrator for the full-time system and spends numerous hours to ensure that all is in order.

Sadie Mason MBE, Active Sussex Chief Executive said: “Mid Sussex has often been a hub of producing top sporting talent and this year is no different. I would like to congratulate all of those who have been shortlisted and wish all nominees the best of luck ahead of what promises to be another memorable Sussex Sports Awards. We have, in abundance, a number of notable sporting talents across our county who all deserve to have their accomplishments recognised.”