Equestrian Yasmin Ingham and athlete Joe Reid won the main two accolades in the Isle of Man Sports Awards announced online last evening.

For the first time in the annual event’s history, the announcements could not be made in front of a live audience because of the coronavirus restrictions.

The shortlists for the MicrogamingPlayItForward-sponsored event were compiled by a selection committee after deliberation of the nominations forwarded by the general public.

The gala night was to have taken place, as usual, in the Royal Hall at the Villa Marina on the Thursday evening of April 2 (Maundy Thursday).

But this event was cancelled and a ’virtual’ version was instead agreed and arranged.

The 2019 Isle of Man Sports Awards announcements were therefore streamed via Isle of Man Sport’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

In addition to the 11 Sports Awards categories, the list of Sport Aid recipients and sponsors were also revealed along with the presentation of the IoM Sport Leader award.

The Roll of Honour, listing notable sports men and women who passed away over the past 13 months (since the 2018 Awards Night), was particularly poignant as it included judo coach Richie Lloyd and cyclist Brendan Maxwell, two of the first victims of the Covid-19 pandemic in the island.

Richie had in fact been nominated for the Sports Coach of the Year award for his support of the IoM judo team at last summer’s NatWest Island Games in Gibraltar.

Joe Reid received more votes from the panel than all of the other shortlisted individuals for the Isle of Man Sportsman of the Year award.

Reid, who comes from the south of the island, won the men’s 800 metre title at the GB Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham in February 2019, and backed that up with an equally impressive fourth place in the European championships in Glasgow.

Also nominated for the same award were fellow athlete Ollie Lockley, European circuit golfer Tom Gandy, TT podium man Conor Cummins, national circuit champion cyclist Matthew Bostock, British Enduro champion Daniel McCanney and double Manx Grand Prix winner Nathan Harrison.

Yasmin Ingham lifted the women’s title for the second time in seven years, having also won in 2013.

The Greeba woman, currently based in Cheshire, last year became Under-25 British Eventing Champion to complete an unrivalled collection of national titles at four different age categories - under-16, under-18, under-21 and now under-25.

The others nominated for the sportswoman award were athlete Rachael Franklin, shooter Rachel Glover, cyclist Lizzie Holden, race walker Erika Kelly, carriage driver Libby Priest and swimmer Charlotte Atkinson.