Sport has swept the boards providing six of the ten winners in a national competition to become Nissan Generation Next ambassadors over the next twelve months.
Hundreds of young leaders from fields of business, the arts, sport and social entrepreneurship were nominated and this list was reduced to a shortlist of 20 before going to the public vote.
Each of the winners will now take the wheel of new cars, fully taxed and insured, for the next 12 months.
“We are overwhelmed by the interest in this year’s programme. We had a very difficult task to select a shortlist of 20 candidates and their success in attracting over 69,000 votes is a fantastic public endorsement of what Nissan Generation Next is all about,” said James McCarthy, CEO of Nissan Ireland.
“Nissan is delighted to support these ambitious achievers as they endevaour to attain their goals in life and to make 2015 the year that they never look back. They are leaders in what they do and they share Nissan’s commitment to excellence and innovation.”
Lucan canoeing star Jenny Egan (28) topped the poll with 9,297 votes to drive away with a Nissan Qashqai. The elite athlete has set her sight on qualifying for the Rio Olympic Games having recently claimed Ireland’s first ever medal at the Senior European Canoe Sprint Championship with bronze in the K1 5,000 metres event.
“I am delighted to receive such fantastic public support and to drive away with my new Nissan Qashqai,” she said.
“It is going to make such a difference to what I want to achieve in the coming year, making it easier for me to travel to training and sports therapy and in helping to keep myself in the best possible shape to perform at the highest level.”
Egan will represent Ireland at the Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan from August 19 – 23.
The five other sporting winners are
Paul O’Donovan (21), Skibbereen, Cork – Rower
Rower Paul and elder brother Gary are aiming to secure qualification for the Rio Olympic Games in the Lightweight Double Sculls. Paul started rowing at seven years of age and has been on every Irish team since he was 14 years old. He won bronze at the U23 World Championships in 2013 and has consistently finished in the top four at world championship events.
Monika Dukarska (24) Killorglin, Kerry – Rower
Rower Monkia had no English when she moved with her family from Poznan to Kerry in 2006. She soon joined her local rowing club and has gone on to achieve remarkable academic and sporting success. Monika is now part of the Irish Senior Rowing team and is aiming to secure Olympic qualification with a finish in the top 11 at the World Rowing Championships in France this August.
Alan Cadogan (22) Monkstown, Cork – Dual GAA Star
Alan is a dual GAA star for Cork. A corner-back, he was named Man of the Match when he made his debut against Waterford in the 2014 All-Ireland Hurling Championships and was instrumental in Cork’s success in winning the Munster Hurling Championship. He won a Munster U21 Football Championship medal in 2014 and also has a ‘Munster U21 Footballer of the Year’ title to his credit.
Catherine McManus (23), Navan Road, Dublin – 100 Metres Sprinter
Multi-talented Catherine’s ambition is to secure qualification for the Rio Olympic Games as part of the Irish women’s 4×100 metres relay team. Catherine is balancing training with completing a Masters and recently received the Marketing Society of Ireland’s LePere award in recognition of Academic Excellence in Marketing having graduated from DCU first in her class with first class honours.
Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe (23), Thomastown, Kilkenny – Pentathlete
Ireland’s number one Modern Pentathlete Arthur has one goal – to win a gold medal at the Rio Olympic Games. Arthur was just 20 years of age when he represented Ireland at the London 2012 Olympic Games and is confident of capitalising on that experience in the sporting discipline which combines fencing, swimming, riding, shooting and running.
The winners from other walks of life included Gareth Sheridan and Paul Campbell who have established their own businesses in health and photography in Dublin and Ciara Judge, Emer Hickey and Sophie Healy-Throw from Kindle who won the 2013 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition Grand Prize.
