TEAM East Lothian enjoyed an evening of celebration at the scottishathletics annual awards, sponsored by 4J Studios, held at the Glasgow Hilton Hotel at the end of last month.
With presentations from Geoff Wightman and Olympian Katherine Merry, as well as guests including Eilish McColgan and Sean Frame, it was a memorable evening reflecting on an incredible year for athletics in Scotland.
Team East Lothian (TEL) was shortlisted for several awards, and was delighted to see Stuart Donnelly win ‘Volunteer of the Year’ and Corey Campbell named as ‘Under-17 Athlete of the Year’.
It is well known in Scottish Athletics how much the success of clubs, events and athletes rely on input from volunteers, so there was tough competition for the ‘Volunteer of the Year’ accolade.
Donnelly has volunteered at Team East Lothian across a vast range of roles over the last 10 years, including coaching, officiating, fundraising and community engagement.
He is also chair of the board of trustees at TEL and was involved in the development of the Run, Jump, Throw programme in partnership with East Lothian Council.
Donnelly also formed the initial relationship with Paddy Burns, CEO of 4J Studios, best known for developing Minecraft for Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo consoles, which led to the support from 4J for Team East Lothian.
This was then extended to cover the scottishathletics National Academy, indoor and outdoor Scottish national championships, as well as the annual scottishathletics awards evening itself.
He has been instrumental in the huge progress the club has made since it was formed in 2012 and is held in the highest regard by everyone at Team East Lothian for his work across all aspects of athletics.
As a qualified coach, Donnelly has a great relationship with the athletes and has contributed significantly to their international selections.
Meanwhile, with age group records and international medals, the ‘Under-17 Athlete of the Year’ category was also stacked with stiff competition.
However, the strength and depth of Campbell’s performances over the course of the year saw him crowned the winner of this sought-after title.
The 16-year-old, coached by Alister Russell, began the year in style by winning the Scottish Schools Indoor Championship 1,500m in a new championship-best performance, breaking the previous best which had stood for 40 years.
He then broke the British under-17 indoor 3,000m record by placing third at the Scottish Senior Championships.
It was a muddy end to the season in February, where Campbell won the under-17 Scottish National cross-country title.
The Dunbar athlete’s track season success kicked off when he ran the Scottish under-17 3,000m record in Leeds, which was followed by the boys’-aged-15 mile world record and British under-17 record at the Monument Mile classic in Stirling.
Campbell’s early-season performances meant that he qualified to represent GB at the European Under-18 championships in Jerusalem, Israel, where he placed sixth in the final.
He ended the track season by breaking the British under-17 3,000m record at the world athletics challenger tour in Jessheim, Norway.
This year has been an exceptional year for Team East Lothian and for athletes of all levels in Scotland.
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