Meath Sports Awards - Yet more accolades for Natalya Coyle
No stranger to the Meath Sportsperson of the Year Awards Tara AC's Natalya Coyle, who was the overall winner in 2016, will add yet more accolades to her burgeoning trophy cabinet when she picks up the Outstanding Achievement Award (female) at Friday night's awards in Knightsbrook hotel Trim.
Ninth in the London Olympics in 2012, sixth in Rio four years later Tara's Natalya Coyle laid down an early marker about her ambitions for Tokyo in 2020 when she claimed a silver medal at the Modern Pentathlon World Cup opener in Egypt in March.
The 28-year-old Tara AC athlete performed strongly in all events and picked off two of the biggest names in the sport during the Laser Run to claim a satisfying podium finish.
The silver medal built on Coyle’s breakthrough season of 2018, when she won silver at Pentathlon World Cup Sofia and finished fourth in the World Cup final in Astana.
A winner of the Meath Sportsperson of the Year in 2016 following her heroics in Rio, Coyle was 15th fastest in the pool in Cairo, but she catapulted herself into medal contention with 23 victories in the fencing.
The Meath woman then went on to enjoy a clean ride in the showjumping which moved her into third and after a solid laser run she finished just 11 seconds behind the winner, Uliana Batashova (Russia) to claim silver ahead of Rio silver medallist Elodie Clouvel and 2018 world champion Anastasiya Prokopenko.
MONTHLY WINNERS
January - Gavin Kennedy (Ashbourne RFC); February - Shane Aston (Trim AC); March - Ger Lyons (horseracing), Andy McEntee (GAA); Keith Donoghue (horseracing), Gavin Cromwell (horseracing), April - Ray Moloney (Navan RFC), Gordon Elliott (horseracing); May - Eamonn Murray (GAA); June - Nick Fitzgerald (GAA); July - Donal Keogan (GAA); August - Colin Keane (horseracing); September - Brian Carroll & Gary McConnell (handball); October - Cian Carey (motorsport); November - Mary Watters (athletics); December - Alan Murphy (Trim Celtic).
OTHER AWARDS
Other awards that will be presented include
Team of the Year - Na Fianna Camogie (voted by Meath Chronicle readers)
Outstanding Achievement Male - Jack Regan (voted by Meath Chronicle readers)
Young Sportsperson of the Year - TBA on the night (selected by Meath Chronicle)
There will be some Facebook live from the Knightsbrook next Friday night.