VIP AWARDS PRESENTERS
Every year we invite some well known current and former sports stars and presenters to join us at the event to present an award. They do so because of their appreciation for all of the efforts that went on behind the scenes to make their sporting careers a reality.
For the 2025 ceremony we were proud to have the following VIP’s attending the event and presenting awards:
Amber Anning
Amber Anning is the 2025 World Indoor 400m champion, a two-time Olympic and World medallist, and the British record holder over 400m outdoors and 200m indoors.
Born in London and raised in Australia and Hove, she rose through UK age-group teams before moving to the United States on scholarship, becoming a three-time NCAA champion and setting multiple collegiate records. She graduated in 2024, months before her Olympic debut in Paris, where she won two relay medals for Team GB and finished fifth in the fastest Olympic 400m final on record, setting the British mark of 49.29 seconds.
Amber also joined Mary Rand (1964) as only the second British woman to break three national records at a single Games. In March 2025, she won the World Athletics Indoor 400m title in Nanjing, becoming the first British woman to claim the crown. Amber is committed to inspiring the next generation on and off the track.
Maggie Alphonsi MBE
Maggie Alphonsi is the face of international women’s rugby and arguably one of the most well-known names in women’s team sports on the planet.
Before announcing her international retirement in 2014, she represented her country an impressive 74 times, scored 28 tries, and helped England win a record breaking seven consecutive Six Nations crowns. She was also an integral member of the team that won the 2014 Rugby World Cup for the first time in 20 years and was part of the team that won the BBC’s Sports Personality Team of the Year award.
Chris Boardman CBE
In 1992, Chris took Great Britain’s opening Gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics astride the infamous Lotus bike. It was Britain’s first cycling Gold medal in 72 years.
Chris started his Professional cycling career in late 1993. Over the following 8yrs Chris held the Yellow Jersey in the Tour de France on three separate occasions, took three World titles on track and road and broke several world records.
Whilst a Professional athlete Chris also served as a Board Member of the then UK Sports Council and was part of the launch of Lottery Funding for Sport. A moment that changed the Nation’s sporting status to this day.
Chris has been involved in Cycling Advocacy, largely through his role as Policy Advisor to British Cycling for more than a decade, an activity that led to him becoming Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester.
As Chair of Sport England, Chris oversaw an organisation that administers approximately 200 million pounds of funding to enable everyone in the country to access sport and be physically active.
Perhaps the biggest challenge Chris has ever faced though, is to lead a whole new organisation, Active Travel England. As Cycling and Walking Commissioner, Chris is charged with setting up this organisation and overseeing the administration of a 2 billion Pound budget.
Tom Bosworth MBE
Tom Bosworth MBE, known as the man who can walk faster than you can run set multiple world and British records throughout his career. He won 21 national titles and captained the England Athletics team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games where he won a silver medal. The double Olympic athlete is a proud advocate for LGBT inclusion in sport. Since retiring Tom works as an athlete manager, TV host and commentator.
Duncan Goodhew
Gail Emms MBE
Gail Emms MBE is an Olympic silver medallist, World, Commonwealth and European Champion in mixed doubles badminton with Nathan Robertson. Since retiring from professional sport, she has become a passionate advocate for women’s sport, as well as a sought-after motivational speaker and host.
Gail is the author of ‘The Lost Lionesses’, which tells the remarkable story of the pioneering 1971 women’s football team who played in the Mexico World Cup – a team that included her mum. Her autobiography, ‘Grit and Goose Feathers’, is available to pre-order now.
Never one to stand still, Gail is also turning her competitive energy to the professional pickleball scene, determined to make her mark on one of the world’s fastest-growing sports.
Nicole Holliday
Nicole is the one-to-watch presenter in sports and entertainment. With her versatile presenting portfolio and sporting knowledge, Nicole can be found fronting a multitude of formats.
In football, Nicole hosts Arsenal men’s match day show ‘Live in N5′ whilst contributing on major platforms such as Sky Sports, DAZN, talkSPORT, BBC Sport and The FA.
Alongside football, Nicole also hosts for E-LaLiga and E-Premier League; the biggest EA FIFA tournaments available. Alongside this, Nicole was a lead host in the Team GB Olympic house, has delivered boxing interviews with Anthony Joshua and teamed up with Castore to interview Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
It’s been a hugely exciting 2025 for Nicole. In April, Nicole made her US TV debut on CBS’ morning footy show ‘Golazo’. In June, Netflix released the first-ever season of House of Streams, a dynamic and explosive reality show, hosted by Nicole. Alongside this, Nicole was at the heart of the Lionesses coverage this Summer, hosting fan parks across the UK capturing the fans highs and lows, and working in Switzerland across the games and witnessing the Lionesses become European Champions! In addition, Nicole returned to Saudi Arabia for a consecutive year as the main stage host for the E-Sports World Cup.
In September, Nicole was announced as a global Google Pixel ambassador.
Bronte Law
Bronte Law is one of England’s leading professional golfers, competing on both the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour. A former Curtis Cup star, she represented Great Britain & Ireland with an unbeaten record before turning professional in 2016. Bronte has gone on to achieve success at the highest level, including her breakthrough LPGA Tour victory at the Pure Silk Championship in 2019 and multiple titles on the Ladies European Tour.
As an England Golf ambassador, Bronte is passionate about inspiring more women and girls to play, enjoy, and thrive in the game. Known for her competitive spirit, consistency, and dedication, she continues to be a role model both on and off the course.
In addition to her ambassador role, Bronte agreed to spearhead a series of events for junior girls aimed at increasing competitive opportunities for the next aspiring generation of female golfers (Bronte Law Junior Series).
Martin Offiah MBE
Martin Nwokocha Offiah MBE is an English former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
Offiah was inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2013. He scored over 500 tries during his rugby league career, making him the third highest try scorer (and top try-scoring English player) of all time, and now features in a statue of great rugby league players outside Wembley Stadium.
Christine Ohuruogu MBE
Christine Ohuruogu is a British former Track and Field athlete and competed over 400m. During her 15 year career she held Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European titles.
Christine won 400m gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing a year after becoming world champion in Osaka before taking silver at London 2012 and regaining her world title in Moscow in 2013. It was also in Moscow where Christine set the UK 400m record with a personal best time of 49.41 making her the first British woman to win two World Championship titles and the first British woman to win three global titles.
In 2016 Christine claimed her final Olympic medal in the 4x400m relay to make her the most decorated female athlete in British history.
Off track, Christine obtained a degree in law and is actively involved in sports arbitration including holding a sports legal advisory role. Christine uses her elite sporting experience for high performance consulting, sitting on numerous boards and mentoring athletes. More recently, Christine launched Mind Your Strides, a bespoke fitness experience to get people active and engaged in movement regardless of ability level.
Sam Reardon
Sam is a British sprint-and-middle-distance athlete specialising in the 400m and 800m.
Representing Great Britain, he has earned multiple international honours including Olympic bronze medals in the 4 × 400m relay and mixed 4 x 400m’s in Paris 2024. This summer he reached the semi finals in his individual World Championships in Tokyo.
Tessa Sanderson CBE
On the 6th August 1984 at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles Tessa Sanderson won the Gold in the Women’s Javelin and became the first black woman to win a Gold for Great Britain. She remains today the only British person, man or woman to ever win a throwing Gold Medal, a record that has been maintained for nearly 40 years.
Tessa competed in six Olympic Games from 1976 to 1996, and in addition to the Olympic Gold, won three Commonwealth Golds and a World Cup Gold in Cuba in 1990. In total Tessa made 61 appearances at Internationals, and it was her sixth appearance at the Games that she again made history, equalling that of any Olympic woman and becoming the first British woman to achieve such a landmark (and the second British person to do so as well). . Tessa also held the
British heptathlon record in 1980/81. In March 2004 New Years Honours list Tessa Sanderson was awarded the CBE by Her Majesty the Queen, in recognition of her services to sport and her role as Vice Chairman of Sport England. In October 2004 Tessa was awarded the Sunday Times Life Times Achievement Award for her dedication to sport.
During her 26 years competing for Great Britain Tessa was voted Sports Personality of the Year and Athlete of the Year (3 times) by the Athletics Writers Association, she also presented the Sports News for 2/3 years for Sky Television. Her media career involved television presenting for BBC, ITV, Bloomberg, GMTV, Talk Sport Radio.
Adam Smith
Adam Smith is one of the most recognisable faces in sports media, and one of the lead event hosts in Europe. His wide-ranging roles include working as a presenter for Sky Sports, alongside regular contributions for Tottenham Hotspur, England and The FA.
As a lead presenter for Sky Sports, Adam’s roles have included hosting Saturday Social as well as Live Football in the shape of Bundesliga, EFL & England U21 Coverage. He has delivered headline interviews with the biggest stars in football, including Lionel Messi, Heung Min Son, Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Frank Lampard, Kevin De Bruyne and many more! His roles for Tottenham have included hosting the build-up to the opening ceremony for the first ever game at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and presenting all the exclusive, behind the scenes content with the players and management staff for the Champions League Final in Madrid. Adam is currently the Official Matchday Host in The Bobby Moore Lounge for every game at Wembley Stadium and is regularly used as a pitch side presenter on match days for England games which include interviewing the likes of Gareth Southgate and Harry Kane. He also hosted The Official England Podcast every day in camp for Euro 2020 which got to Number 1 in the Apple Sports Charts.
Alongside his football work, Adam has hosted for the Premier League, The FIFA e-World Cup Live from the O2 Arena and was part of the presenting team for KSI vs Logan Paul fight (labelled ‘the biggest event in internet history’) live from The Staples Centre in Los Angeles. As part of The Queen’s 90th Birthday celebrations, Adam hosted an event in front of 5000 people as at Windsor Castle.
Away from sport, Adam is a Type 1 Diabetic and is a proud celebrity ambassador of Breakthrough T1D (the UK’s biggest T1 Diabetes charity), hosting many events to raise money for this charity which is very close to his heart.
Susannah Townsend MBE
Former GB & England hockey star with 188 caps and Olympic Gold (Rio 2016) & Bronze (Tokyo 2021)
- Key leader in Team GB’s success; awarded MBE in 2017 for services to sport
- Passionate about diversity, inclusion, and challenging unconscious bias. Named a top 200 LGBTQ+ influencer in the UK
- Brings elite performance mindset into business, coaching, and high-performing teams
- Experienced coach and mentor, from Fairfield University to Team GB at Paris 2024 and now a Performance Advisor at UK Sport
- Proud wife, dog mum, and firm believer in creating safe, honest spaces where people thrive
Sophia Warner
Sophia Warner is a mother, marketing specialist, Paralympian, sport series founder and guest TV presenter
Sophia’s athletics career began in 1996 when she made her international debut in the 100m and 200m. She went on to pick up gold in both for Great Britain at the 1998 World Championships. Fast-forward to the 2012 Paralympics and 16 years of hard work and dedication saw Sophia run a lifetime best in her 200m in front of 80,000 people and finish fourth in both her 100m and 200m.
Sophia retired from elite sport after the World Championships in 2013. She can now be found doing triathlons among other sporting challenges! Off the track, Sophia’s marketing and commercial career stretches back more than two decades. Over the years, she has worked extensively for global brands, including BT and Nestle, and after the 2012 Paralympics was appointed the commercial director at British Athletics.
Since retiring from elite sport, Sophia continues to combine her loves of business, marketing and sport. In 2013 she set up her own agency Sophia Warner Sports Marketing with the primary objective of maximising opportunities in disability sport. In 2015 she set up and ran the world’s first mass-participation sports event dedicated to people with disabilities, which went on to win multiple awards.
In 2017 Sophia founded and still runs Superhero Series, the UK’s only disability sports series. Sophia is also the founder of the charity Superhero Sport Foundation. Its mission is to break down barriers to disability sport participation and introduce as many people as possible to the life-changing power of sport.
Rory Underwood MBE DL
Rory is probably best known for his international rugby career, scoring a record 49 tries for England (85 caps, 1984-1996) and winning 7 caps for the British Lions. Rory played first class rugby at Leicester Tigers for 14 years and was awarded the MBE in 1992 for his services to rugby. Rory spent 13 years (2007-2020) as a non-executive Director on the Board of Leicester Tigers.
Throughout his rugby career Rory amassed 3000hrs flying as a pilot in his 18 years in the Royal Air Force.
Rory’s stellar rugby and RAF career has allowed him to bring niche expertise into the performance of business teams and he has a specific interest and expertise in the areas of effective communication and high-performance leadership within teams. He is an experienced facilitator, psychometric profiler and performance coach.
Rory founded Wingman Ltd in 2009, a strategy consultancy that utilises his experiences from his time within high-performance organisations and teams, and applies them to the challenges faced by CEO’s, MD’s and Business Owners as they try to grow their businesses. He incorporates his wealth of inspirational experiences, extreme human achievement and invaluable insights and translates them into practical, pragmatic tools for business strategy implementation.
Rory has presents as a thought leader on business strategy and has a Doctorate of Science from the University of Teesside.
Rory is a captivating keynote speaker, sharing insights on leadership, resilience, and strategic thinking drawn from his experiences in elite sport, the military, and business.
Richard Whitehead MBE
Richard Whitehead MBE is a Paralympic Gold Medallist, world record holder, marathon runner, and a dedicated advocate for diversity and inclusion. Born with a double through-knee congenital amputation, Richard has defied expectations from an early age, embracing sport as a way to live without limits, a philosophy instilled by his parents and one that continues to shape his life and inspire others.
Driven by ambition and resilience, Richard set his sights on the marathon over two decades ago, completing the New York Marathon and proving that no dream is too bold. His athletic journey soared from there, winning gold in the T42 200m at the London 2012 Paralympics on home soil and subsequently adding further medals to his ParalympicsGB legacy.
In 2024, Richard broke the world record for athletes with bilateral knee amputations at the TCS London Marathon and then smashed his own record later that year in Chicago, finishing in an astonishing 2:41:36. As of 2025, he is officially the fastest amputee runner in the world. That same year, Richard completed a remarkable global challenge – 20 marathons across the world, culminating in his 100th career marathon. But this feat wasn’t just about endurance, it was about connection. Through every mile, Richard championed inclusion, accessibility, and community, using sport as a bridge to bring people together.
In 2021, he founded The Richard Whitehead Foundation, a charity dedicated to empowering disabled people through sport and physical activity. The foundation works to remove barriers and unlock potential, reflecting Richard’s unwavering belief that everyone, regardless of age or ability, has a gift worth nurturing. Richard’s story is one of grit, positivity, and boundless possibility. He continues to inspire generations to dream bigger, run further, and live without limits.
