SULLIVAN Upper School in Holywood, with six girls on their team of 10, have been crowned as winners of the sailing Schools Cup.
The Schools Cup is contested between schools all across Northern Ireland as part of the Youth Championships – a competition organised by The Royal Yachting Association of Northern Ireland.
The Youth Championships is Northern Ireland’s largest annual multi-class sailing competition and this year, 126 competitors battled it out across eight boat classes.
The Sullivan team consisted of 10 sailors – Martha Nolan, Reuben Wright, Emily Ridout, Annabel Ridout, Bobby Driscoll, Ellie Nolan, Aaron Moore, Emma West-Hurst, Anna Wilkinson and Rafa Cobain Oriol.
Sullivan Upper School Principal, Craig Mairs, commented: “We’re really keen to encourage diverse participation in sport. It’s absolutely fantastic to see our sailors have such success. There’s obviously sports that the school is traditionally associated with but we’re really keen to recognise all the achievements of the pupils so we’re really proud of them
“Our parents and my pupils often hear me say that we think that what goes on outside of the classroom is just as important as what goes on inside of it. It’s absolutely crucial to their personal development- the ‘soft skills’ that they learn doing these things are absolutely irreplaceable.
“Our vision is that our pupils find their niche and they run with that. We recognise that the local area (of Belfast Lough) provides opportunities for this so we would be delighted to see more of our pupils get into sailing.”
Sister combination Annabel Ridout and Emily Ridout were crucial to Sullivan’s success, as they paired up and won the RS Feva Class.
Speaking about the win, Annabel said: “It was really good to win it. Last year Bangor Grammar won it, so it was nice to have our turn to win it.
“Sailing with my sister can be good and bad. Most of the time it’s really good but from time to time it has its challenges!
“Sullivan has only won this trophy twice before, so we were really proud of ourselves for winning it.”
Next year, the Schools Cup will be contested at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in Cultra, so with the event being hosted in the local area for these pupils, there will be all the more reason to try and win back-to-back trophies.
Successful Sullivan team
