FORMER Bradford Bulls star Elliott Whitehead won the male sportsperson of the year trophy at the second Provident Bradford Sports Awards.

However, the 27-year-old was unable to receive the award at the Bradford Hotel as he was in Australia preparing for the Canberra Raiders’ opening match of the NRL season only hours later against the North Queensland Cowboys.

Compere Tanya Arnold said: “Elliott only missed two minutes out of 2000 last season with Canberra Raiders”, and there can have been few better deputies to pick up his trophy than Bradford Bulls skipper Leon Pryce.

He revealed: “I coached Elliott at West Bowling and gave him his debut on the wing, while he also shared a house with me for three or four months when we were at Catalan Dragons.

“I am really proud of him. He has been awesome, he is a proud Bradford lad and it is good to see him doing well.”

Highly commended were England cricketer Adil Rashid and Olympic boxer Muhammad Ali.

Keighley shooter Michelle Smith could not pick up her female sportsperson of the year award either due to coaching commitments.

She won gold, silver and bronze last May at the English National Championships, helped Great Britain win the Randle Trophy in August and was also crowned British Long Range women’s champion.

In addition, Michelle gained a distinction in her foundation degree in sports coaching at Bradford College.

Bradford Bulls’ rugby league stalwart Danielle Bose and dragonboat racer Tracy-Marie Dickenson were highly commended.

Also in the senior achievers’ category, Bradford City were the professional club or team of the year, regularly attracting crowds of over 18,000 to Valley Parade, while Paralympian wheelchair rugby player Coral Batey won the disability sportsperson award, but could not collect it due to illness.

The amateur club or team award went to Horizon Taekwondo Academy, whose Rick Simpson praised the dedication of the coaches, students and parents as he brought four national champions onto the stage with hium.

Hilary White lifted two prizes – the Provident Good Neighbour Award and, in the outstanding contribution category, volunteer of the year for her 30-plus years’ work with Bradford Disability Sport & Leisure.

Bradford-born Paula Dunn was coach of the year for her work in coaching the Great Britain Paralympic track and field team in Rio, where they surpassed their medal target set by UK Sport and their total from 2012 in London, while the AEGON Ilkley Trophy tennis tournament won the sporting highlight award.