Olympic athlete presented awards

A POPULAR Olympic athlete was guest at a sports personality awards event at Warrington.
Swimmer Karen Pickering, who won 35 major championship medals in the pool during her career, spoke to students at Priestley College about how she overcame adversity to become a champion athlete.
She told how she defied the experts to return to the sport after being involved in a serious car accident that left her with a broken back, and about the experience of clinching two gold medals at the age of 30 at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
There was a display of gymnastics from former student Chris Carter and members of the Wakefield Tumbling team, as well as current student and Great Britain gymnast Jenny Dawes who won the female sports personality title.
North West Colleges and Cheshire runner Dan Cliffe capped off a great year when he was named the male winner of the 2009 trophy.
A number of other awards were presented to those students who have excelled in sport during the year.
Curriculum manager Nige Howell said: “We try to do something different every year at the awards to keep them fresh and it was safe to say this time was something really special.
“To have someone of the stature of Karen presenting our awards alongside the gymnastics display was a real treat for all who attended – it has been another great year for sport at Priestley and this was a fitting finale.”
Karen said: “It was really nice to visit Priestley and be part of the ceremony to reward so many young and gifted athletes. I had a chance to look around the campus and was very impressed with what I saw – it was a real pleasure to speak at the awards and I was very impressed by the gymnastics performance.”
Pictured are some of the award winners with Karen Pickering (back row third from left), and sports personality winners Jenny Dawes (back row second from left), and Dan Cliffe (back row, third from right).