BORDERS athlete Samantha Kinghorn has been hailed as an inspiration by the equality charity Scottish Women in Sport.

The 20-year-old wheelchair racer from Gordon, who recently competed at the Rio Paralympics, was presented with the Titex IX Role Model of the Year award during the gala dinner in Glasgow.

Samantha is Britain's quickest T53 wheelchair racer in the UK over 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres.

And she recently smashed the Scottish 10k record during a race at Jedburgh.

The cream of Scotland's sportswomen were honoured as eight women are chosen for awards from an elite line-up of female athletes, coaches and staff.

Scottish Women in Sport, in association with energy company SSE, revealed the winner of the public vote to find the SSE People's Champion as National Youth Squad Hockey manager Susan McDowall.

Susan, from Stevenson, Ayrshire, was selected for the charity's premier accolade by the public for her tireless work with the national Under 18 Scottish hockey team.

The Oriam Sportswoman of the Year Award went to Olympic champion track cyclist Katie Archibald.

The Glasgow cyclist took Gold at the Rio Olympics in the women's team pursuit adding to her impressive tally of British, European and World titles. The award is sponsored by Oriam, Scotland’s state of the art sports performance centre.

Scottish Women in Sport founder and CEO Maureen McGonigle said: “It is with great pleasure that once again we celebrate the success of our women in sport and those who work tirelessly in the background to support them.

From the Rio Olympics to the qualification of the Scottish FA Women’s National team, women in sport are achieving at the highest level and deserve recognition for their efforts.

"SWiS works tirelessly to bring about a culture change for sport, however recent figures are

disappointing showing that only 7 per cent of all sports media coverage in the UK is for women in sport and just 0.4 per cent of sponsorship is directed at women in sport.

"We are keen to work with the Scottish Government to ensure that equality in sport remains a priority and look forward to the launch of the Sporting Equality Fund which will identify and target key areas for change.”

The Titel IX Role Model award was presented to Samantha.

And performance manager with Tennis Scotland, Karen Ross, lifted the McCrea Financial Services Coach of the Year award.

Aileen Campbell, Minister for Public Health and Sport, said: “2016 has brought great success for Women’s sport in Scotland.

"Our elite athletes have once again excelled, with memorable performances in Rio as part of Team GB and Para GB and our women’s football team qualifying for Euro 2017.

“I am delighted to support the 2016 Scottish Women in Sport annual dinner. This event is both a celebration of our achievements on the world stage, and a recognition of the many people who work to ensure women and girls are not left behind when it comes to taking part in sport and physical activity.

"The Scottish Government’s £300,000 Sporting Equality Fund, announced earlier this year, will build on this success to drive participation, engagement and promotion of women in sport.”

Para sprinter Maria Lyle from East Lothian, who won a silver medal in Rio, collected the Young Sportswoman award, with hockey umpire Sarah Wilson being named as Newcomer of the Year.

The Best TEam Performance was given to the Scottish FA Women's National Team who qualified for 2017 European Championships.