Just days after having been named Team Scotland’s Coach of the Year, along with Ben Higson, University of Stirling’s Steven Tigg came away with the ‘Coach of the Year’ honors at the Scottish Swimming Awards. The annual awards were held on October 1st in Edinburgh, with athletes, coaches and volunteers being recognized for efforts and achievements throughout the past year.
In addition to coming away with Tigg’s recognition, Stirling stud Duncan Scott was given the ‘Nancy Riach Memorial Medal’, given to the athlete who best enhanced or upheld the prestige of Scottish Swimming over the year. Teammate Ross Murdoch was the winner of that same award back in 2014.
19-year-old Scott wowed the world as an integral member of the Scottish squad’s silver medal-winning 4x200m freestyle relay at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Scott was also a member of the men’s silver medal-winning 4x100m medley relay, a powerful foursome that included World Record Holder Adam Peaty. Scott turned heads yet again in Rio by making his very first Olympic final in the men’s 100m freestyle.
City of Glasgow was another Scottish swim club well-represented in Edinburgh at the awards dinner, with 18-year-old Ryan Brown receiving the WG Todd Prize for Top Junior Male Performer of the Year. Brown established himself as an elite international competitor by finishing 12th in the 200m butterfly semi-finals at the European Junior Championships in Hungary this past July. He then earned the Boys 17/18 years’ victory in the same event at the British Summer Nationals.
Brown competes under the tutelage of City of Glasgow’s Head Performance Coach, Ian Wright, who was recognized along with his athlete. The BSCA Scotland Junior Swimming Coach of the Year award was bestowed upon Wright for his work with Brown, and also with young Anna Fleming, a rising star who broke 3 Scottish Junior records over the course of the year.
Below is the entire list of 2016 Scottish Swimming Awards:
WG Todd Prize & Cup (Male) | Ryan Brown |
WG Todd Prize & Cup (Female): | Abby Kane |
JY Coutts Award: | Ann Dickson |
The Jim Anderson Award for Disability Swimmer of the Year | Andrew Mullen |
Senior Water Polo Player: | Christopher Campbell |
Junior Water Polo Player | Matthew Crighton |
John & Margaret Bell Award: | Grace Reid |
Synchronised Swimmer of the Year: | Chloe Burns |
Masters Decathlon Award (Female) | Judy Hattle |
Masters Decathlon Award (Male) | Eddie Riach |
Eian Prentice Memorial Trohpy | Marshall Illingworth |
Denis Sullivan Memorial Trophy | Keri-anne Payne |
John Gunning Volunteer Award – East | Karen Woodhouse |
John Gunning Volunteer Award – Midland | Scott Haxton |
John Gunning Volunteer Award – North | Sean Dawson |
John Gunning Volunteer Award – West | Patricia Naidoo |
BSCA Junior Coach of the Year | Ian Wright |
BSCA Coach of the Year | Steven Tigg |
Club of the Year | Perth City Swim Club |
Nancy Riach Memorial Medal | Duncan Scott |