Irish Women in Sport – Changing the Game
“Irish Women in Motor Sports“
(Update 25/02/16)
Ireland’s Touring Car Driver Nicole Drought and Drift Queen Champion Danielle Murphy are two of Ireland’s Sport Stars to watch out for in the Coming Months.
Danielle Murphy is a Female Drift competitor from Ireland, and was first to achieve a Pro level Drift license here. Danielle won the Queen of Europe (QOE) Championship in 2013 and was runner up in the same event in 2014, then in 2015 she won the championship again along with 4th place in the King of Europe Championships 2015.
Danielle has also won the Echo Sportsperson of the month for June 2013 and then again in Oct 2015, along with being voted as the best winning moment of 2015 by Women’s Sport Journal.. Danielle placed 3rd last weekend in the Battlemania 2016 at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, one of New Zealand’s premier stand-alone drift events. Danielle drives a World famous Nissan S14a 470bhp Drift car named; “The Green Monster”.
Danielle had this to say after last weekends event in New Zealand; “From a woman living in a tiny village just outside Dublin, having a dream and a drive to succeed and to achieve it, this once in a lifetime opportunity to come here for this event will definitely not be my last visit to this side of the world. It’s made me more determined to push harder,”
I am sure you will agree, when i say, Danielle has had a fantastic career to date and we cannot wait to see what she has in store for us in 2016.
Nicole Drought was the first ever woman to be nominated for the prestigious Young Driver Of The Year Award, Nicole travelled to Mondello Park last year to meet the series organisers and championship winning team Murray Motorsport, and test drive a SEAT Supercup Ireland machine. she took to the track for a number of shakedown laps before returning to the track for a series of high speed laps.
Nicole had this to say: “That was amazing, the car feels like a proper Touring Car. I was first out and the track was greasy so I ran on full wets but I still got a feel for the car. I didn’t want to come back in, it felt fantastic. I would love another run on slicks to see what it can really do! I would like to thank Oisin and the guys from the SEAT Supercup Ireland, SEAT Ireland and Murray Motorsport for a wonderful experience.”
Nicole was selected as the Dunlop Young Racing Driver of the Month for September 2015. The 21 year-old, in her first full season of racing, recorded a series of good results during the year in the Touring class of the Irish Touring Car Championship at the wheel of her 250 bhp Honda Integra. The highlight of her year was her first podium finish, at Bishopscourt in May 2015, with a further four visits to the podium during the season.
Published 25/02/16 by Mark McCluskey
Changing the Game
A book of photographs celebrating the success of Irish Women in Sport over the period 2000-2015 is available from Sport Ireland’s website www.sportireland.ie
It is wonderful to see the growth in participation of girls and women in sport across a range of codes and the excellent example being set by our leading athletes and teams. We look forward to our ladies leading the way in 2016!
Published 15/01/16 by Fiachra O Mathuna