Top athletes celebrated at 2018 Army Sports Awards
Lance Corporal Chez Nihell receives the Sportsman of the Year award (Credit: Graeme Main)
TASS athletes are celebrating after winning three of the top honours at The British Army’s annual awards evening last week.
LCpl Chez Nihell, Captain Jen Kehoe and Sapper Euan Kick were recognised for their outstanding achievements in sport this year during the glittering ceremony at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
The prestigious event was held exactly 100 years to the day that Army Sport was first formally organised with the creation of the Army Sport Control Board.
Alpine skier Euan Kick was named Rising Star of the Year after a sensational year on the slopes that has seen himselected for the Scottish National Team and rank in the top 5 in Great Britain – all whilst still undergoing soldier training.
The combat engineer is now on track for GB Europa and World Cup Team selection and has his sights set on the 2022 Olympic Team, with help from the British Ski and Snowboard development hub and TASS support at the University of East London (UEL).
Sportswoman of the Year 2018 Jen Kehoe (Credit: Graeme Main)
In the Sportswoman of the Year category, Captain Jen Kehoe triumphed following her remarkable performance at the PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games in March.
Guide to visually impaired alpine skier, Menna Fitzpatrick, the pair became Britain’s most successful Winter Paralympians when they stormed to slalom gold on the final day of the Games to add to their super combined and giant slalom silvers and super-G bronze.
The Paralympic champion is a serving officer in the Royal Engineers and a member of the Army’s Elite Sport Programme at the TASS-supported Aldershot hub.
Winner of the ultimate award of the evening, Sportsman of the Year, was Lance Corporal Chez Nihell who is captain of the Army Boxing team based at the Aldershot hub.
In final year as an amateur boxer, Nihell has ensured he has retired at the very top, retaining his title as English super heavyweight champion, an accolade formerly held by the likes of Audley Harrison, Dereck Chisora, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Missing out on the award were cyclist Sergeant Mark Robertson and fellow TASS-supported athlete, pistol shooter Sam Gowin, who won a bronze medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Speaking to the Forces Network, he said: “Just to get nominated for this award alone was a massive honour so to be stood here now, I’m truly grateful. Thank you.”
Other TASS-supported athletes who were honoured the awards included Corporate Ieuan Hudson from the men’s triathlon team that bagged the ‘Team of the Year’ title.
