#sailoroftheyear – There was warm applause yesterday for Sailor of the Year Annalise Murphy. The Olympic 2012 sailor is already back on the water training hard for her next regatta at the end of March but found the time to post on her Facebook page from Cadiz, Spain - 'Thanks to Afloat magazine for making me Irish Sailor of the year. Truly never thought this would happen to me :)'
Murphy follows in the footsteps of 1996 Laser ace Mark Lyttle, the inaugural winner of the first sailor of the year award 17 years ago.
Yesterday's prize hit the sports headlines appearing in The Irish Times and last night's RTE's Six One news bulletin. (see 41mins in on the RTE Player)
The National Yacht Club (NYC) sailor from Dun Laoghaire beat a short list of 12 outstanding Irish achievements from 2012 to lift the top prize. Over 12,000 online votes were cast in a poll on Afloat.ie
Murphy, got a quick response from her social media followers to the new prize. Clair Burke commenting: 'Well deserved Annalise, you did a fabulous job of raising the profile of sailing for the non sailing public in Ireland'.
News of the award for the 23-year-old was carried by the Irish Sports Council, Olympic Council of Ireland and the Federation of Irish Sport as well as numerous popular sailing websites including this morning's Scuttlebutt Europe.
Considering the talented and dedicated NYC sailor and UCD student is still only 23, there's clearly plenty of sailing success awaiting in her future, and she starts 2013 on her 'Road to Rio' aiming to clinch a medal at the 2016 Olympic Games.
In spite of losing out on a podium finish at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Miami earlier this month, the fact that she came so close - and led the charge in the early stages - proves that she can stand proudly with the elite in her class. And she'll have another chance to prove herself in the next round of the ISAF World Cup in Palma de Mallorca on 30 March.
