RYA Northern Ireland Celebrates Award for Women on Water Initiative

12th March 2020

Betty Armstrong

RYA Northern Ireland Celebrates Award for Women on Water Initiative

RYA Northern Ireland is celebrating clinching a prestigious award at the Active Fit and Sporty Awards at the ceremony held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Belfast, just a few days before International Women’s Day.

The Active, Fit and Sporty Project aims to work strategically with a wide range of partners and key stakeholders to raise the profile of women and girls in sport and physical activity in four key areas. The object of the awards programme is to celebrate the role of the Active, Fit and Sporty project in raising awareness of participation opportunities across Northern Ireland and to honour individuals and teams who have contributed to this.

It was the first time the Female Sports Forum held the awards and RYA Northern Ireland was nominated in two categories, National Governing Body Champion Award and the Media Award.

With many worthy nominees in the running, RYA Northern Ireland was crowned the winner of the National Governing Body Champion award for its Women on Water (WOW) initiative.

RYA Northern Ireland’s Active Clubs Co-Ordinator, Lisa McCaffrey runs the programme. She commented: “We are delighted and proud to receive this award and we hope to continue to work with the Female Sports Forum to create exciting opportunities for females within sport.” Explaining the success of the WOW programme, Lisa said: “WOW began in 2016, aiming to provide a pathway for female participation within our sport. It is a fantastic opportunity for females to try sailing at low cost, concentrating on learning to sail, having fun and meet new friends.
“Since 2016 over 12 clubs and centres have been running WOW programmes, giving more than 500 participants the opportunity to get on the water. The programme has been such a success that last year we brought together a group of volunteers who organized a festival to celebrate, with over 40 women taking to the water.”

She added: “RYA Northern Ireland would like to take this opportunity to thank all our WOW clubs, centres and volunteers who have been running the WOW programmes for the last three years. “This award goes to all our boating community including clubs, centres, volunteers and all the participants.”

Jackie Patton, Chair of RYA Northern Ireland commented: “It is an honour for RYANI to be shortlisted in two categories and to receive this award. It is recognition of the dedication of our volunteers, in particular highlighting the visibility of female success within our sport. Inspiring role models can have a significant impact on participation. This is very much in evidence with our Women on Water programme."

As Afloat previously reported, the 2020 Women on Water festival is being held at Carrickfergus Sailing Club with Belfast Lough Sailability on 6 June 2020.

Published in RYA Northern Ireland

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RYA NI

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Betty Armstrong

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Betty Armstrong is Afloat and Yachting Life's Northern Ireland Correspondent. Betty grew up racing dinghies but now sails a more sedate Dehler 36 around County Down

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About the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Northern Ireland

The RYA is the national body for dinghy, yacht and motor cruising, all forms of sail racing, RIBs and sports boats, windsurfing and personal watercraft and a leading representative for inland waterways cruising.

The RYA is recognised by Government, the media and opinion formers as the representative body and voice for the activities that it represents. It continually fights for the rights and freedoms of its 112,000 personal members.

The RYA has more than 1,500 affiliated clubs and classes, which represent some 350,000 boaters throughout the UK. It is estimated that 4 million people in the UK take part in boating activity annually.

The RYA also sets and maintains recognised standards for training for both leisure and commercial boating through a network of more than 2,400 RYA Recognised Training Centres across 58 countries. More than 250,000 people per year complete RYA training courses.

The RYA is responsible for one of the UK’s most successful Olympic medal-winning sports. Our coaching and development schemes actively support 800 of our country’s top sailors, from talented juniors to Olympic and World champions.

The RYA is committed to promoting all forms of boating and making them accessible to everyone. For more information please visit www.rya.org.uk.

The Royal Yachting Association Northern Ireland (RYA NI) acts for the RYA in Northern Ireland (NI) and the Chairman of RYA NI is invited to join the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) Policy Review Committee.

You can find the RYA Northern Ireland at Sketrick House, GE8, Jubilee Road, Newtownards, BT23 4YH.

RYA NI is a company limited by guarantee – Registration number NI 51945

Contact RYA NI: Tel: 02891 827154 email: [email protected]