THE inaugural Brecon & Radnor Express Sports Awards are finally going ahead this evening (Friday, March 23) at The Wellington Hotel in Brecon.

The event was originally scheduled to take place on St David’s Day but had to be postponed because of the extreme weather produced as a result of the Beast from the East and Storm Emma.

Although a mini Beast from the East made a return last Sunday, bringing more unseasonable snow and ice to mid Wales, the forecast for today suggests there will be no repeat of the conditions on March 1.

Luke Walding, the general manager of the Brecon & Radnor Express, said he was confident the event would go ahead.

He said everything will be going ahead as originally planned on the first evening with Rob Davies, the Paralympics gold medal winner, giving a speech, and Mark Weller from Ocsid Entertainment, compering the evening and providing entertainment.

All table bookings will stand from the March 1 event and anyone who has been in touch since the event was postponed are also welcome to come along.

In fact even at this late stage, any nominees or their friends and families can still book seats at the event by emailing either the general manager or the editorial manager by midday today.

Luke said: “It was a real shame we couldn’t hold the event on St David’s Day but I’m hopeful everything will continue as planned this evening.

“The good thing is both Rob and Mark have said they are happy to fulfil the original roles they were due to carry out.

“Anyone who got in touch to say they’d like to come on March 1 we hope will come along tonight.

“It should be a great evening.”

Mr Walding said the decision to postpone the original event was made with a view to the safety of guests, many of whom would have faced difficult and potentially treacherous journeys home.

Tonight’s awards are scheduled to start at 7pm at the Wellington Hotel in Brecon which has recently been refurbished.

The event is estimated to finish at 9pm.

The awards are divided into seven categories with nominations being made by the B&R’s readers before Christmas and the vote for the winners taking place early in the new year.

The seven categories are: Sportsman of the Year, Sportswoman of the Year, Sports Team of the Year, Young Sports Star, Veteran Sports Star, Disabled Sports Star and Sports Volunteer of the Year.

Paralympics gold medal winner Rob Davies will be giving a short speech at the awards.

Rob, who became paralysed after he suffered a broken neck when a scrum collapsed during a rugby match while he was playing for Brecon, will talk about how he battled back from adversity to lift a gold medal in the Paralympics table tennis at Rio in 2016.

Guests who attend the evening will be able to enter a raffle, with prizes sponsored by 21A, A1 Electrics, Costa Coffee, George Hotel, Vision Express, Brecon Brewery Tap, Premier Stores in Brecon, Shipshape Hairdressers, the Castle of Brecon Hotel, Cardiff Devils and Dragonfly Cruises.

Proceeds from the raffle will go to the Wales Air Ambulance Charity.