A MULTI-TALENTED sports star from Rochford has been crowned Sports Personality of the Year.

Freya Levy won the prize for the county at the Active Essex Sports Awards.

Held at Chelmsford City racecourse, the awards celebrate sporting achievements across the county.

Freya won the public vote after a year of exceptional achievements.

Freya is a member of GB Women’s Para ice hockey team.

She is also part of the GB Wheelchair basketball U-25 team and the England Wheelchair Rugby Sevens Team.

The 23-year-old said: “To win the award this year is just a dream and I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who voted – it feels great to be recognised by your local community and it will really power me on through to the next season.

“There are so many opportunities to take part in sport in Essex and I’m a true believer that there is something out there for everyone.”

Freya, of Dapple Close, Rochford, has the muscle wasting condition facioscapulohumeral muscular dustrophy (FSHD).

Her mindset is to get on with everything she can and she uses the examples of many of the disabled athletes she has competed with and against as motivation.

Steve Reynolds, from Basildon Athletics Club, was named coach of the year, while Vange Primary School and Nursery won education champion of the year.

Ciaran Whatley, from Rochford, was highly commended in the category of Young Volunteer of the Year, and Rochford District Council was highly commended for Active workplace of the Year during the ceremony last week.

Azeem Akhtar, chair of Active Essex, said: “At this year’s awards we saw some fantastic examples of how sport has been used to tackle gang crime, mental health, loneliness and other key societal issues – this speaks volumes and shows how important it is that we work closely together as a county to keep our communities active.”