SPORTS AWARDS: The race is hotting up on the home straight

Jon Harrison is doing well in Coach of the Year.

As the race to win a prize enters the final furlong, there have been many twists and turns in most of the 11 categpories.

And with a few hours still to go before voting closes at midnight tonight (Thursday February 14), there are sure to be a few more vote swings.

The Peterborough Phantoms ice hockey team have come in with a late challenge on several fronts.

Mark Baines is a popular choice for Footballer of the Year.

James Ferrrara, their long-serving skipper with 600 appearances to his name, has received lots of votes this week for Sports Personality of the Year while player/coach Tom Norton has been polling well in Sportsman of the Year.

And there’s also been a late surge of support for Slava Koulikov for Coach of the Year.

Ferrara’s biggest rivals at the time of going to press for the Sports Personality gong were Panthers speedway team manager Carl Johnson, martial arts guru Clifton Findley and star swimmer Jamie Scholes .

Up there yesterday at the top of the leaderboard with Norton in Sportsman of the Year were world kickboxing champion Rob Taylor, Peterborough Lions rugby player Tom Lewis, athlete Phil Martin, swimmer Myles Robinson-Young and Peterborough Town cricketer Matt Milner.

Taylor is also polling well in the Coach of the Year category and his club TASK (Taylor’s Academy of Sport Karate) are doing well in Team of the Year.

He faces strong opposition from football in both those categories - from Netherton United and Yaxley FC in Team of the Year and from their respective coaches Jon Harrison and Andy Furnell in Coach of the Year.

Scholes and Robinson-Young are members of the successful City of Peterborough Swimming Club (COPS) and their supporters have also been busy voting in big numbers in a few other categories.

They’re going for Amelia Monaghan and Kenzie Whyatt in Sportswoman of the Year, Harriet Salisbury in Junior Personality, Nathan Griffin in Unsung Hero and Jane Leigh in Lifetime Achievement.

Kevin Sanders (boxing), Clifton Findley, Ian Parker (martial arts) and Tommy Flynn (football) are attracting lots of votes for the Lifetime Achievement Award while Monaghan and Whyatt have Atlanta Hickman (martial arts), Camilla Plumb (rowing) and Leah Pearson (BMX) breathing down their necks in Sportswoman of the Year.

Up there with Salisbury in Junior Personality of the Year are champion athlete Freddie Fraser and martial artists Sophie Doyle, Freya Newman, Hannah Cameron and Joshua Leonard.

In Unsung Hero, Griffin’s biggest rivals are Simon Potter from Peterborough Rugby Club and Colin Day from Peterborough Sports FC.

In Footballer of the Year it’s really tight at the top with Mark Baines, Sarah Hudson, Matt Sparrow, Katie Steward, Jessica Driscoll and Tommy Randall all in contention and in Junior Footballer of the Year it’s Lewis Sharpe, Dylan Enright, Bartosz Berezowski, Jack Rye and Luca Christoudias leading the way.

Deaf England footballer Will Palmer has come in with a lot of late votes to challenge for the Disabled Achiever of the Year gong. Peterborough City Rowing Club pair Alice Mason and Kathryn Lingren are his biggest rivals.

But, as has often proved the case in previous years, it can all change at the last minute.

On Monday we will be announcing on line who’s made the first three in each of the 11 categories. They will be invited to the presentation dinner at the Holiday Inn in Peterborough on Thursday March 7 when the winners will be announced and the trophies presented.

HOW TO VOTE BY TEXT

Once again we are allowing readers to vote in the Peterborough Telegraph Sports Awards by text.

Text your vote (s) by starting your text with PT (followed by space) SPORT followed by the name and category you wish to vote for, then your name and email address and send to 85100 (cost is £1 per text plus your standard network rate).

For example, PT SPORT FRED SMITH JUNIOR SPORTSMAN Joe Bloggs [email protected]

You can vote for as many people as you like in each text but each message should contain no more than 160 characters.

Terms and conditions: Texts cost £1 per vote plus your standard network rate. Don’t forget the spaces! You can vote up to 10 times before the text line closes at midnight on 14th February 2019. Votes received after the closing deadline will not be counted but you may still be charged.

Bill payer’s permission must be obtained before entering.

This is a JPIMedia competition.

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For full T&Cs visit https://www.jpimedia.co.uk/competition.