THE Pride of St Helens Awards, sponsored by Mikhail Hotel & Leisure Group, will take place on Friday, November 22.

In Thursday's Star (November 14 edition, in shops now) we published a 16-page supplement profiling each of the shortlisted nominees for this year's ceremony.

Throughout this week ahead of the event at the Totally Wicked Stadium, we will be sharing our categories of nominees with you.

Here are your nominees for the Mikhail Hotel and Leisure Group Pride of St Helens Awards – Sportsperson of the Year, sponsored by Saints RFC.

Kai Birch

(Image: Kai Birch)

WITH JC’S Amateur Boxing Club enjoying successive national success, one of the club’s shining lights is Kai Birch, who has been making a name for himself on the national circuit.

With Kai trained at JC’s family’s gym in Fingerpost, Kai has won the Merseyside and Cheshire Championship a huge eight times.

The 19-year-old has also won two English titles and is currently the Great British champion after winning the TriNations championship in June.

Following this success, the former pupil has also been selected to represent the England boxing team, and will fight his fifth bout for his country in Croatia next month.

The young boxer is also being assessed to be selected for the Great Britain boxing team. And while Kai has achieved incredible success in the junior and amateur circuits, he has used his skills and experience to help the next generation. He also coaches the sport to young boxers across the country.

Further highlighting this selfless spirit, Kai also runs boxing classes with Change Grow Live at JCs, where Kai and his dad support people in recovery and aim to get them back in shape and on the right path.

Andy Middlehurst

(Image: Faye Gaskin)

RACING in motorsport for the best part of four decades, Andy has won numerous titles in historic car championships and has raced against drivers who would go on to be Formula One heroes, like Ayrton Senna.

With a collection of previous championship wins, including several Historic Saloon Car Championship and Goodwood Revival Grand Prix’s, one of Andy’s latest wins was the historic Monaco Grand Prix back in May.

Described as the “number one historic car event in the world”, the 61-year-old Sintelliner showed that he’s still got it as he made it five wins out of six at the classic car race.

In his day-to-day life, Andy is most well-known for his family business, the Middlehurst Nissan garage, which has had a near 60 year history in St Helens.

This year, Andy and his son Chris relaunched the business as ‘Middlehurst Road Race and Classic’, to place more of a focus on their passion for classic makes and models.

Speaking to the Star about his Monaco Gran Prix win earlier this year, Andy said: “When you’re racing at such high speeds when so low to the ground, you do have the thought of why you’re putting yourself through this.

But as I have won the event before, this gives me the motivation to prove to myself that I can still do it - and I don’t want to give it up just yet.”

Faye Gaskin

(Image: Faye Gaskin)

SAINTS half back Faye Gaskin was among the three nominees shortlisted for the Woman of Steel trophy this year - the prestigious individual honour in Women’s Rugby League.

Gaskin, who also works as a PE teacher at a sixth-form college, was recognised in her final season for the red vee, as she announced after Wembley that this would be her last year.

The 32-year-old has enjoyed a remarkable career, one that looked to be over after she suffered a significant knee injury during the Challenge Cup Final of 2021.

Back with a vengeance, Gaskin opened the scoring for Saints at Wembley Stadium earlier this season and has been playing some of her best rugby after overcoming the injury that derailed her for two years.

Starting her playing career at West Bank Bears, where she was the only girl on the team, the half-back was called up by England in 2015 and starred in the World Cup in 2017.

Following the launch of the Women’s Super League in 2017, Faye has been one of the stand out players in a team that has won one Super League trophy, two league leaders shields, and four back to back Challenge Cups.