Malahide Yacht Club has unveiled two Roll of Honour Boards in its clubhouse to mark the achievements of its six Olympians who competed at nine Olympic Games – including David Wilkins’ Silver Medal in 1980 - and nineteen members who won 27 National Championships in its 52-year history.
Successes in major UK championships have also been highlighted and a separate honour board lists the seven winners (to date) of the Club Person of the Year Award for the ‘Ossie Bachmann Trophy’, instituted in 2003.
Between 1972 and 2008, MYC was represented at nine Games by Robin Hennessy, David Wilkins, cousins Robert and Peter Dix, David Burrows and most recently Ciara Peelo. Burrows competed in three Games while Wilkins’ five appearances constitutes an Irish Olympic sporting record. He is also one of the few Irishmen to win an Olympic medal when he and crew Jamie Wilkinson took Silver at the Moscow Games in 1980.
The first National Championship success was in 1963, five years after the club’s formation, when John Crawford and crew Robin Hennessy took the Enterprise Class title and the most recent was Richard Arthurs who won the Topaz Class Nationals two years ago. In between, twelve MYC helmsmen won titles in seven dinghy classes.
The new Roll of Honour Boards were unveiled at a Reception in the clubhouse by the club’s two longest-serving members Kingsley Long and Dermot Hegarty.
“We are immensely proud of these achievements and of the contribution of members of our small club to Irish sailing,” said Club Commodore Martin Clancy. “With these boards, we have recorded for all time these successes and hope it will act as an incentive for our young members to want to join them.”
