THE quest to find Dunfermline and West Fife’s standout sports person of the year will end at an awards ceremony tonight.

Dunfermline and West Fife Sports Council’s annual sports awards for 2016 will take place at the Glen Pavilion, with teen cyclist Joe Nally, Paralympian Alison Patrick and Commonwealth Games hopeful Jack Lawrie aiming to be crowned Sports Personality of the Year.

The talented trio will contest the top award on the night, which will see prizes handed out in a further 10 categories as sporting achievement from individuals, clubs and coaches are celebrated.

A new name will be added to the big accolade’s roll of honour following the success of Hillend swimmer Tain Bruce over the past two years, and the winner will follow in the footsteps of star names such as Linsey MacDonald, Russell Hogg, Gemma Sharp and Eilidh Doyle.

Woodmill High School pupil Nally, 17, who won the British National Track Championships points title last month, enjoyed another outstanding year in 2016 after winning the Young Sports Person accolade last year.

He won selection for British Cycling’s Junior Academy programme for a second successive year, won Scottish junior scratch, points, 3K individual pursuit and madison titles, and competed for Great Britain in Europe, which included a second-place finish at the Six Day Amsterdam event at the end of the year.

Para-triathlete Patrick, after retaining her European title in the PT5 class in June, won a sensational silver medal at the Rio Paralympics alongside guide Hazel Smith.

Her achievement, which came just three years after taking up the sport, was the fifth medal won by Scots on the hugely successful GB team, which saw them finish second in the medals table with a total of 147 podium places.

Pitreavie AAC 400 metres hurdler Lawrie, who narrowly missed out to Bruce at the 2015 awards, has his sights set on next year’s Commonwealth Games after another strong 12 months on the track.

The Cowdenbeath star powered his way to the British under-23 title – despite being one of the youngest in the field – when he clocked a time of 51.32 seconds and participated in the British Championships that doubled up as trials for the Rio Olympics.

He also won gold at the Scottish Athletics National Senior and Under-17 Championships.

There are eight nominees for the Young Sports Person of the Year prize for athletes aged 16 and under, including Dunfermline Water Polo Club’s Matthew Crighton, InCAS swimmer Cara Smyth, waterskiier Georgina Hutchison, Carnegie Swimming Club’s Ellie Turner, Highland dancer Louise Barton and two members of Pitreavie AAC; pole vaulter Alana Dunsmore and sprinter Jade Hutchison.

The Junior Team of the Year award, for those under 16, will be contested by Scottish Cup and treble winners Bayside Girls 13s, Wing Badminton’s under-16 team and the Carnegie Distance Swimming Team, while the Benny Hutton Team of the Year award will go to either Pitreavie AAC, Dunfermline Water Polo Club’s league and Scottish Cup-winning ladies’ team, or PH Racing Club’s masters ladies, who were winners at the National Cross-Country Relay Championships.

The East Kilbride Sports Council Award for athletes with a disability will be contested by Owen Miller (athletics), Paralympian Kieran Steer (boccia), Carnegie swimmer Ollie Carter, who broke eight Scottish records in the S10 category (see page 62), Scottish international bowlers Billy Allan and Barbara McMillan, and world and European pool champion Alan Reynolds.

Inverkeithing High School’s Olivia Ballantyne and Rachael Ingram, Dunfermline High’s Matt Nicol and Eirinn Reay, Woodmill’s Kirsty Pearson, Queen Anne’s Sophie Nethery, St Columba’s’ Daniel McGuiness and Declan Pierce, from Beath, are shortlisted for the Active School Ambassador of the Year, for which an award will be presented to one boy and one girl.

Rachael Robson is nominated for School Sports Coach of the Year for her work in hockey while Youth Coach of the Year will be between Lucy Hallam (swimming) and Lisa McAlpine (athletics).

The Club Coach of the Year is between Morag Mitchell (Carnegie Swimming Club) and Sarah Jane Ewing (bowls), while Carnegie Swimming Club’s James Laird has been nominated for the Services to Sport award.

The Centenary Masters Prize for the outstanding male or female athlete aged 35 or over will be decided between champion bowler Maria Spencer, runner Ed Norton and Carnegie Masters Swimming Team member Judith Hattle.

Two Sports Festivals School of the Year prizes, awarded to the small and large primary schools who have excelled during the sports council’s festivals throughout the year, will also be handed out.