Local Olympians honoured with Civic Reception

Nicola White, Councillor Ann Metcalfe, Stuart Bithell, Mayor James Gartside, Sophie Cox, Keri-Anne Payne, Councillor Surinder Biant, Council Leader Colin Lambert

5 More Image(s) In Gallery

The Borough of Rochdale honoured its Olympians with a Civic Reception at Rochdale Town Hall tonight (Monday 3 September).

Four of the six local Olympic athletes attended: Stuart Bithell, Keri-Anne Payne, Nicola White and Sophie Cox, arriving at the Town Hall in a white Bentley limousine to be given the red carpet treatment and be greeted by the Mayor James Gartside.

The athletes spent time talking to the crowd before entering the Town Hall and appearing on the Town Hall balcony followed by the reception in the Grand Hall with councillors, local London 2012 torchbearers and volunteers, family, friends and invited guests.

Stuart, from Newhey and a member of Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club, won a silver medal in the 470 sailing class and says he is determined to go one better in the 2016 games in Rio. Stuart studied Sports Science at Hopwood Hall but always wanted to go into sailing.

Keri-Anne, from Heywood, narrowly missed out on a medal in the open water swimming, coming fourth just 0.4th of a second behind third place. Keri-Anne won silver at the last Olympics, gold twice at the World Championships and is the current World Champion. A former Cardinal Langley High School student, gets married soon to fellow Great Britain swimmer David Carry and says she intends to stay in swimming.

Nicola White, from Littleborough but currently living in Oldham, won bronze as a member of the Team GB Women's Hockey. An all round sports person, Nicola nearly went into gymnastics and athletics before settling in hockey. She says she will be returning to complete her degree in Sport at Loughborough.

Sophie Cox, from Littleborough, played rugby competitively as a girl before taking up Judo. She went out of the Olympics in the first round to the eventual gold medal winner, Kum Ae An of North Korea. Six times British champion, Sophie has an array of medals from other championships, Commonwealth Games bronze, two European silver and two European bronze.

Joel Miller and Craig Dawson were unable to attend due to other commitments.

Joel Miller, from Heywood, was a member of Team GB Volleyball and Craig Dawson, ex Oulder Hill High School student, is a professional footballer currently signed to West Bromwich Albion after previously playing for Rochdale AFC and was in the Team GB Football.