Sunderland yachtsman John Robertson was presented with the Sport England North East Disabled Sports Person of the Year Award at the North East Sports Awards ceremony in Sunderland yesterday (Sunday 5 February).

Robertson is without doubt one of the best sailors in the world, able bodied or otherwise. An amazing feat given that he was left paraplegic following a near fatal motorbike crash around ten years ago. John and his crew, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas, make up the ‘A’ Team of the GBR Paralympic Sailing Squad in the Sonar class.

Training hard for the 2008 Olympics, they notched up some substantial successes in 2005, among them the Gold Medal at the IDSF World Championships in Denmark, September 2005, a title that they successfully defended at the recent IDSF World Championships in Perth, Australia.