Pride of St Helens 2022 - Young Sportsperson of the Year shortlisted

We're profiling the shortlisted nominees this week - here are the profiles of the three in the running for the Pride of St Helens Young Sportsperson of the Year award, sponsored by St Helens Council

Lewis Shaw

Runner Lewis Shaw has had an exceptional season this year.

The 14-year-old Sutton Academy student began his final year in the Under 15s with his main aim at the start of the season being to win the English Schools title.

Lewis became English Schools Champion, and went on to also become UK National champion, Merseyside Schools Champion, Northern Inter-Counties Champion, Merseyside Champion and was a silver medallist in the Northern Championships.

Lewis also equalled the Warrington Athletics Club club Record for the 80 metres hurdles in 11.10 seconds.

Lewis Shaw (Image: Contributed)

He also achieved the Merseyside Schools Record, of 11.20 seconds, and Merseyside County Record at 11.39 seconds.

Lewis won Merseyside ‘Male Performance of the Year’ and became UK ranked number one. After being 19th last year.

Winning 15 out of 16 races this year, Lewis achieved the top eight fastest times this season, and number 30 on the all-time list for Under 15s.

He also ran his first 100m hurdles race stepping up to U17s a year early and running 14.31secs which would put him 12th in the rankings against people he would be competing against next year.

Lewis, who lives in Sutton, has been running for Warrington AC for three years, training twice a week at the track plus an online strength and conditioning session via Zoom.He and his family said a “big thanks to everyone at Warrington Athletics Club especially his coach Neal who promised him to get him to the English Schools final ready to challenge for the title” adding he “couldn’t have done it without you all!”

Bobby Birkett

A regular at St Helens Parkrun, Bobby Birkett is a talented young runner who has his eyes set on success.

This year, Bobby has won the Under 11’s Merseyside and the Manchester Area Cross Country League, beating runners from all over the North West.

Representing St Helens Sutton Athletics Club, Bobby won the Manchester league by having three wins and a second place finish throughout the four race season.

This achievement highlighted the young runners ability and he was congratulated for earning the first win that the Sutton Athletics club has achieved in this competition.

Starting running from the age of six, Bobby has been improving his running times in the weekly 5k St Helens parkrun and achieved a personal best of 18 minutes and 56 seconds in the summer.

This timing gives the runner an age grading of 82%, which suggests the youngster is running to a national level.

With impressive running times, the Rainford High pupil is now looking to build on his successes and test himself in both northern and national cross country championships.

With a real passion for the sport, Bobby aims to keep on running and make a professional career from it in the future.

James Eden

At just ten years old, James Eden has shown immense strength to deal with adversity and go on to achieve success in both karate and rugby league.

After the tragedy of losing his mum to a brain tumour when he was four, James has stayed strong and through his dedication, has been excelling in both sports.

Member of the Black Scorpion Club, James has shown his ability in karate by winning won a gold, silver and bronze medal at Amateur Martial Association competitions, as well as winning gold at the GB Open Championships.

With aims to become a black belt in the sport, James has also been selected to represent England in international championships and was proud to be presented with an International Squad Badge earlier this year.

Going above and beyond in all the sports he competes in, James also plays at Clockface rugby league team and regularly earns himself the man of the match award.

Despite the loss of his mum, James is described is the “most happy and balanced boy” and has been supported throughout his sports by his loving dad Shaun.