Oli Cutmore was thrilled to receive yet another accolade in a glittering year of success as the pedal power of the BMX racing star propelled him to the top honour at the 2015 Active Braintree Sports Awards.

The 22-year-old from Sible Hedingham has had a season to remember after finishing with National Series and British titles alongside his name and riding to fifth place at the 2015 UCI BMX World Championships in Belgium in July.

And those stunning achievements were recognised closer to home this week as he picked up the Sports Personality of the Year honour at the Braintree District awards.

Cutmore, who is a former Hedingham School pupil, was presented with his prize at a gala night at the College at Braintree on Monday and means he will now go forward to be considered for the top honour at the Active Essex Sports Awards next month.

He said: “It’s brilliant to get the acknowledgement for what I’ve done and big thanks to the judges for giving me the award. It’s great to get recognition for something that you’ve worked so hard at for so many years.

“It’s all started to come together.

“I didn’t know what would happen at the start of the season, but once you get going, you work harder and want it more and more.

“It makes you want even more for the next year because you feel you have something to beat.”

The gala evening saw representatives from sports clubs across the district gather to celebrate 12 months of successes.

In fact, it was a busy night for Cutmore’s home club – Braintree Bullets – as, alongside his success, they took home the Club of the Year award and had seven-year-old Freia Challis highly commended in the Young Sports Personality of the Year category.

Like Cutmore, Challis, who is from Halstead and a pupil at St Andrew’s Primary School in the town, took fifth place at the UCI BMX World Championships in Belgium and gaining recognition from the awards has fired her up to achieve even more in 2016.

She said: “It felt great being up on stage and makes me want to do even more next year,” she said.

“I had an alright year this year.

“I didn’t think I’d do all that I did, but I think I could have done better at the worlds.

“It’s been pretty amazing, though.”

There was also awards delight for one of the older members of Halstead’s sporting community as Lenna Raynor, who is 92, had her years of service to Halstead Courtauld Bowls Club recognised by being named as Disabled Sports Personality of the Year.

Another Halstead Courtauld member, Russell Harmour, also gained recognition as he was highly-commended in the Sports Personality of the Year category.

In the School or College of the Year category, there was a win for Great Yeldam’s St Andrew’s Primary School, who shared the award jointly with Braintree’s Beckers Green Primary.