The annual RAF Sport Awards were held on 24 October at the RAF Club, to celebrate excellence in RAF Sport across multiple disciplines.
Sergeant Reid was awarded Sportsman of the year for his participation in the RAF Angling Association for over a decade. As Team Captain for Coarse Angling, Sergeant Reid has guided the RAF to consistent Inter-Service titles, while competing at the highest level himself. A lot of the nominees for the awards this year have played a part in mentoring their associations and looking after their future.
“I'm sure we all have our challenges, but you stand on the shoulders of giants. There’s lots of people supporting Angling and this goes a long way to putting us on the map.”
Sergeant Reid
From RAF Cycling, Corporal Toms was awarded Sportswoman of the year, having represented the RAF and UK Armed Forces in road, time trial and track cycling, excelling in these disciplines and earning results that highlight her versatility and commitment.
Sports Official of the year went to Sergeant Glanville from RAF Target Rifle. Sergeant Glanville reshaped the association during his five years as Captain, inspiring new members and maintaining competitive success.
“It's great to be here and to be recognised and to share this with the wider target rifle community. I almost feel like a fraudster here, competing against the triathletes and the basketball players who can do a bleep test for an hour with a ball and I just lay down.”
Sergeant Glanville
The Sports Team award goes to the teams that have either had outstanding success over the past year or sustained achievement over several years. This year the award went to the RAF Rugby League Men’s XIII, for delivering their historic season in 2024-25, securing Inter-Service victory for the first time in a decade and also winning the Tri-Nations Cup against Australia and New Zealand in the summer.
Corporal McKay from RAF Fencing was awarded Sports Administrator of the year, for raising the standard and visibility of RAF Fencing. Corporal McKay earned recognition on the civilian circuit, leading to invitations to referee major British Fencing events and has also been selected by UKAF to oversee refereeing across Service competitions. Sport serves as an inspiration to many, and the success of RAF athletes is also inspiring for future generations.
“I’ve been doing fencing for over a decade now, it's all about the bonds. We all have that inherent ability to be competitive, but especially across in services, the bond we make with our tri-service colleagues is inseparable. In the RAF Open, we are known on the public circuit as being one of the friendliest opens, and I'd like to pride myself and the rest of the committee on that. Everybody keeps saying, it's not time off for sport, it's time for sport. The more people that we get to do sport, the better we enjoy our life really.”
Corporal McKay
The Civilian Volunteer award was shared between David Smith from RAF Rugby Union and Cameron Hazeldine from RAF Ice Hockey. David served RAF Rugby Union for 57 years as a player, team manager, administrator, archivist and advocate for welfare support. While Cameron rebuilt the RAF Stars regional ice hockey team into a successful and welcoming club.
The RAF Central Fund Unit Award acknowledges an inspiring initiative that encourages and enables serving personnel to get physically active. The award went to RAF Gibraltar and their ‘Op GUSTO’, which is a monthly initiative promoting sport, wellbeing and team cohesion. The project has boosted morale, operational effectiveness and civil-military operations.
The RAF Marham Bulls and Lightning Ladies Rugby Union teams were awarded the Head of RAF Sport Award for their commitment, professionalism and teamwork to represent the RAF with pride while balancing the demands of operational service.
Six Lifetime Achievement Awards were given out to recognise the people who have made a major contribution to RAF Sport during their employment with or in support of the RAF.
The full award ceremony is available to watch on the Forces News YouTube channel.
2025 Awards
Sportsman – Sergeant Reid, Angling
Sportswoman – Corporal Toms
Sports Official – Sergeant Glanville
Sports Team – RAF Rugby League
Administrator – Cpl McKay
Civilian Volunteer
Rugby Union Mr Smith
Ice Hockey Mr Hazeldine
RAF Central Fund Award
Gibraltar – Op Gusto
Head RAF Sport Award
Marham Bulls & Lightning Ladies
Lifetime Achievement Awards
· Squadron Leader Down (Swimming)
· Mr Dawe (Sport Aircraft)
· Group Captain Murty (Netball)
· Wing Commander Wilson (Cresta)
· Flight Sergeant Savage (Powerkiting)
· Warrant Officer Chapman (Athletics)
