Chamberlin and Cumani named Broadcast Sports Presenter of the year at SJA awards

Ed Chamberlin and Francesca Cumani were the big winners from racing at Monday night's British Sports Journalism Awards as they scooped Broadcast Sports Presenter of the Year.

The duo, who front ITV's coverage of the sport, came out on top in a category that featured Gary Lineker and Mark Pougatch among the nominees.

Chamberlin said: “Francesca and I love working with each other and I’m very proud of the fact that I think we’re just about the only male-female presenting combination in sport.

"People ask me why I left premier league football to work in racing, and this is why. It’s brilliant to put racing on a stage like this and we’d like to thank everyone on our own team as well as all of those that make our wonderful sport possible.”

It is not the first success for ITV Racing since taking over coverage from Channel 4 at the start of 2017, with last year's Grand National coverage earning a Bafta.

Cumani said: “This is a massive surprise and the first awards ceremony I have been to! I’m so lucky to do something that I love working with such an incredible team of people. At ITV we are a big family, we really enjoy what we do and I think that comes across in our broadcast.

"We’d like to say a massive thank you to the SJA and the panel of judges and I couldn’t be more thrilled on behalf of us all.”

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