Visually impaired Forth Valley College student Laura Cluxton won the Senior Sports Person of the Year Award (sponsored by Stirling Council) at a special event recently.
Forth Valley Disability Sport held their AGM and awards ceremony at the Albert Halls at the end of February 2018 and presented Paracyclist Laura (37) with her well-deserved award.
Laura, said: “The award was quite unexpected. I was quite surprised to have been nominated and it is really great to win it and nice to receive this recognition. I hope I can be an inspiration to other visually impaired athletes in the area.”
Laura who studies Braille and Personal Safety classes at the Camelon based Forth Valley Sensory Centre, just missed out on selection for the recent Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia. But the elite athlete - who as recently as the summer of 2017 was world number nine and the number one in Scotland on the road, for 22km and 80km distances – is currently transitioning to compete in longer endurance distances.
Laura, who lives in Tullibody with husband Joe, has less than 5% of her sight and suffers from the degenerative condition retinitis pigmentosa, but this has not stopped her from becoming a world class athlete as well as a valued member of the Forth Valley Sensory Centre board. Forth Valley College has had a long standing relationship with the Centre and two FVC members of staff deliver classes at Camelon such as Braille and Information Communication Technology (ICT).
Laura has a designated pilot on her tandem and also trains regularly with Joe, a keen cyclist himself. Laura has already competed for Scotland in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 and is looking forward to competing for her country in the future.
Her recent achievements include a bronze in the tandem sprint at the International Cup in Manchester in November 2017 and a silver in the 3km pursuit and bronze in the 200m flying start time trial, both at the British National Track Championships in January.