#ROWER OF YEAR: Sanita Puspure is the Afloat Rower of the Year for 2014. Puspure competes in the single scull, one of the most difficult of all the Olympic disciplines, yet this year she established herself as one of world's best. She took bronze in the European Championships, two hundredths of a second off silver and .28 off gold. It was a first medal for Ireland in a major Championships in a women's Olympic-class discipline. She finished sixth and seventh at World Cup regattas in Aiguebelette and Lucerne. She then closed out the regatta season with an excellent fourth-place finish in the World Championships. She showed considerable resolve to battle through a difficult semi-final and in the A Final closed to within half a boat length of third position at the finish. To top off the year she was invited to compete in the women's Great Eight at the Head of the Charles in Boston. The crew won handsomely.

Puspure took four Afloat Rower of the Month awards (October, August, June and May) in a year of good performances for Ireland rowing: Paul O'Donovan finished fourth at the World Championships in the lightweight single scull and the women's pair and double both placed well.

Rower of the Year Award: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year appeared on afloat.ie