Lee Westwood's coach Peter Cowen wins coach of the year

Cowen continues to coach established players and young talent

Lee Westwood's coach Peter Cowen has been named UK Coach of the Year at the 2010 UK Coaching Awards in London.

Cowen is credited with helping Westwood become the top-rated golfer in the world in 2010, taking the number one position from Tiger Woods.

Yorkshire-based Cowen also won the high-performance award, beating England cricket coach Andy Flower and GB Boxing Performance Director Rob McCracken.

Former cricket coach Jack Birkenshaw won a lifetime achievement award.

Cowen first teamed up with Westwood between 1995 and 2000 by which time Westwood had reached number four in the world.

Westwood later plummeted to 266th in the rankings but has enjoyed a remarkable return to form since renewing his relationship with Cowen in 2008.

As well as guiding Westwood to success, Cowen has also coached a number of top golfers and is currently working with Race to Dubai runner-up Graham McDowell who won the US Open, and Open winner Louis Oosthuizen.

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Legendary cricket coach Birkenshaw is a former England all-rounder who led Leicestershire to the County Championship as their coach in 1996, their first title in 21 years, repeating the feat in 1998.

Recently he helped England women's team to silverware, as assistant to head coach Mark Lane.

The annual UK Coaching Awards, hosted by sports coach UK, honours coaches and coaching organisations that have achieved outstanding success over the past 12 months.

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UK Coaching Awards Winners:

Awards in Support of Coaches:
Coach Educator of the Year: Gordon Lord (ECB)
Governing Body of the Year: England Hockey Board
Coaching Intervention of the Year: Premier League for Sport (PL4S)

Awards for Coaches:
UK Coach of the Year: Peter Cowen (Golf)
Children's Coach of the Year (Supported by the John Lewis Partners in Sport): Gary Kelsall (Handball and Multi-skills)Young Coach of the Year (supported by sportscotland): Mike Bohndiek (Cricket)
Participation Coach of the Year: Brian Wright (Cycling)
Performance-development Coach of the Year: Jan Crabtree (Netball)
High-performance Coach of the Year: Peter Cowen (Golf)
Lifetime Achievement Award (Supported by Coachwise Ltd): Jack Birkenshaw (Cricket)
The Coaching Chain: Appreciation of Coaching Award: Coaches of Maggie Alphonsi (Rugby Union)