European kayaking champion Aoife Hanrahan will be honoured at Tipperary sports awards

Clonmel’s Aoife Hanrahan made history in France last July when she claimed Ireland’s first-ever women’s Euro Cup gold position at the Euro Cup Freestyle Kayak event at the Natural Games in Millau, France.

This tremendous achievement has been honoured with an Annerville award, sponsored by Bulmers, which Aoife will receive from the Tipperary United Sports Panel next Saturday night, January 27.

In October 2022 Aoife became the first Irish woman to stand on a podium at an International Canoe Federation event by winning bronze, and she followed that up when she became the first Irish woman to occupy the coveted gold spot on the podium in this highly-rated European event.

The Natural Games is a multi-outdoor sporting festival that attracts athletes from all over the world competing in base jumping, paragliding, high line, BMX freestyle and much more.

Aoife’s first run of the final didn’t go according to plan, as she came out of the feature on multiple occasions and struggled to put a solid score on the scoreboard.

After coming out of the feature on the entry move of her second run she came back fighting, and put in some high-scoring moves that saw her progress into second place.

Aoife went all out in her third and final run, with one of the best performances in competition that she has ever achieved at 620 points, which put her ahead of the local Spanish paddler Mireia Serres Segarra and secured the coveted gold medal.

The Tipperary Sports Stars of the Year will receive their Annerville awards, sponsored by Bulmers, from the Tipperary United Sports Panel at the Talbot Hotel Clonmel on Saturday night, January 27. Some tickets are still available from Sports Panel Treasurer Ken Conway, tel. 087-6784510.