Kildare canoeist honoured at Sportswoman of the Year Awards at the weekend

Kildare canoeist Jenny Egan was honoured at the annual Irish Times Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year Awards which were held in Dublin at the weekend.

A member of the Salmon Leap club in Leixlip, Egan won the Sportswoman of the Month Award for May after a sparkling start to the 2019 season saw her claim two World Cup medals in the space of a week.

In her first 5,000m race of the year, at the opening World Cup of the season in Poznan, the 32-year-old missed out on gold by less than a second.

A week later she was back on the World Cup podium again, this time in Duisburg, crossing the line just behind Australian pair Alyce Burnett and Alyssa Bull.

She finished the season at number one in the canoe sprint world rankings.

Meanwhile double world champion rower Sanita Puspure was crowned The Irish Times Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year for 2019.

Not alone did Puspure claim her second world championship gold medal at Ottensheim in Austria in late summer, she also secured qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.

Her victory was all the more impressive given that she had to return to her native Latvia during the summer to be with sister Inese in the final stages of her battle with cancer.

This is the 16th year of the awards and the rower was among 14 monthly award winners – there were multiple winners on several occasions - nominated for the 2019 title.

Other monthly winners besides Puspure and Egan included swimmer Mona McSharry, golfer Leona Maguire, boxer Katie Taylor, runner Ciara Mageean and jockey Rachael Blackmore.