Derek Redmond will be ‘Guest of Honour’

Wednesday 20th July 2016

Hero – a limping Derek Redmond makes sure he finishes in Barcelona, with help from his father, Jim

British sprint legend Derek Redmond will be ‘Guest of Honour’ at the scottishathletics and jogscotland Annual Awards later this year.

It promises to be one of the highlights of the calendar as the sport gathers to honour Olympians and Paralympians – as well as the clubs, coaches, volunteers and officials who make such a vital contribution.

The Hilton Hotel in Glasgow will again be the venue for the event, with the date for diaries being Saturday 29 October.

Tickets will be £40 per person and will be on sale from August 1 and we will also be looking for nominations soon for various awards.

Redmond won gold with GB’s 4 x 400m team at the World Champs and European Champs but is perhaps best remembered for limping around the track to ensure he crossed the finish-line in Barcelona with his father, Jim, after suffering a serious hamstring tear during the 400m semi-final at the 1992 Olympics.

Now Derek is eagerly anticipating his autumn visit to Glasgow – and expects the Scottish ‘Athlete of the Year’ award to be keenly-contested with our 15 athletes headed for Rio ensuring the biggest representation in 108-years of Olympic history.

‘I am delighted to be coming to the scottishathletics and jogscotland Annual Dinner in October as ‘Guest of Honour’ and it promises to be a fantastic occasion,’ said Derek.

‘I think the size of the Scottish contingent in Team GB and NI for the Olympics has impressed everyone in athletics in Britain – I understand it is the biggest representation in more than 100 years and that’s really quite something for the sport there.

The Annual Dinner will be a great opportunity to honour the Olympians, and Paralympians, but it is not just about the elite – although I do have to say your ‘Athlete of the Year’ could be quite a contest!

‘But it is also very much about coaches, clubs, volunteers and officials and acknowledging the huge contribution they make on a weekly basis to athletics in Scotland.

‘I am really looking forward to being part of that on October 29 and Brian Whittle is a close friend from the sport so there may a chance for us to swap a few stories from the past, too.’

Laura Muir was the 2015 ‘Athlete of the Year’ with Steve Cram our ‘Guest of Honour’

From 1 August, we will be looking for nominations in various categories for Club, Coach and Volunteer awards. The ‘Performance Coach of the Year’ and ‘Athlete of the Year’ awards are chosen by a panel. The ‘Official of the Year’ is also a closed category.

Basic information on the Annual Awards Dinner is already listed on our Events page.

Derek Redmond enjoyed a long and successful athletics career during the 1980s and 1990s which saw him break the British 400m record twice and challenge American dominance of the event.

He was a prominent member of the British 4 x 400 metre relay squad that took gold at the 1991 World Championships and the 1986 European Championships.

The Barcelona incident was voted the third greatest Olympic moment in history in a poll of viewers of the US broadcaster NBC. Unfortunately, the injury sustained that day was worse than first thought and, after seven operations in under two years, he was forced to retire.

Check out footage of the story here on YouTube – with this version having had more than 14 million views . . .