Cornish coach wins prestigious athletics award

A Porthtowan man has won first place for his outstanding work and services to athletics coaching, at the esteemed England Athletics Awards.

Tony Lett, of Cornwall Athletics Club, was last month announced as winner of the ‘Services to Coaching’ category in the national Athletics Awards, having taken first place in the south west regional round earlier this year.

Unfortunately unable to attend the event in London, Tony was formally presented with the award by Olympic runner Jemma Simpson at the Cornwall Sports Awards, on 7 November at Tregenna Castle in St Ives.

He was nominated for the award for his contribution to the Cornish athletics community, including: organising county squads; club coaching at both county and regional level; publishing a monthly national e-magazine with training advice to sprint and hurdle coaches; regularly applying for and receiving grants to support county coaching, in particular for disability coaches; assisting with the development of race walking in Cornwall; and assisting the 2012 organising committee.

Tony says: "I believe that all athletic disciplines will benefit from strength training and plyometrics. Athletes who want to achieve their potential must be prepared to go that extra mile.

"Aim for the universe and you reach the sky; aim for the sky and you hit the trees; aim for the trees and you hit the ground. Remember, the winning difference is tiny".

Mo Pearson, Athletics Development Officer at the Cornwall Sports Partnership, says: “I have worked alongside Tony for several years now and he is constantly striving to increase coaches’ knowledge. This is an award well-deserved for an extremely hard-working coach, who is an asset to Cornish athletics.”

Cornwall’s success also continued with Simon Dixon receiving first prize on behalf of Restormel Borough Council for their exceptional support to Newquay & Par Athletics Club over the past year.