Sports Personality of the Year 2017

Round one has finished, and the top six still in the running for the Derry News Sports Personality of the Year have been chosen.

In a tense and tight week of voting the rankings changed several times, but now Marcus Christie, Connor Coyle, Paddy McLaughlin, Alan Grant, Daryl Gurney and Lisa Curran are the chosen athletes to battle it out in round two.

Voting has now commenced to decide who will make it into the top three and fight to become YOUR Derry News Sports Personality of the Year.

One vote is permitted per hour, so get behind your favourite!

The perfect year ended in the perfect way for local cyclist Marcus Christie who was named on the Northern Ireland squad for the Commonwealth Games.

The cyclist will now travel to Brisbane in April for the Gold Coast event looking to better the 13th place finish that he managed in Glasgow in 2014.

After a two year hiatus from the sport, Christie returned to what he loves last year enjoyed plenty of success– taking bronze medal in the national time trails. He is also the current National Pursuit champion, and is the national record holder over 50 and 100 miles.

Since his return to cycling, the former Foyle College student has notably stepped up his training regime – with hundreds of people following his journey as he documents his day-to-day activities on his Facebook page ‘Marcus Christie – Commonwealth journey to the Gold Coast’. It should make very interesting reading in 2018 as the Games get closer.

Connor Coyle hardly had a minute to himself in 2017, travelling between Derry and Florida to train, box, train, box and then train again. It has been an exhausting schedule which would test any up and coming sports person, but Coyle is determined to succeed. Whilst he started his professional career in the latter stages of 2016, he really came into prominence in 2017, winning five straight fights to take his record to an impressive 7-0, with much more to come this year.

He defeated Miguel Aguilar, Daruma Almenarez, Benjamin Jordan, Joshua Maxwell and Calvin Metcalf and as a result is now making waves in the USA. The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist is not going to rest on his laurels either, already planning fights in February and April and he has stated his intention to end 2018 with one title, at least.

It has been an unforgettable year for Paddy McLaughlin and Institute whichever way you look at it. Coming into his first managerial role in the summer following Kevin Deery’s departure, McLaughlin had big shoes to fill.

Whatever happened on the field, no one could have predicted what would happen to the Riverside Stadium, which was incredibly destroyed during storms in August. ‘Stute had to play the first few months of the season away from home and since then they have switched between Wilton Park and the Limavady Showgrounds. Despite this upheaval, ‘McLaughlin has led his team to the top of the Bluefin Championship, where they sit clear with games in hand to play over their opponents, a quite significant achievement for the former defender. ‘Stute may have no home to call their own, but in McLaughlin, they have the right man to guide them through this uncertain time.

It was a busy 2017 for Alan Grant that came with mixed success on both the hurling and football field.

Under the new management of Collie McGurk and in a transitional year where the Oak Leaf were trying to right the wrongs of 2016, Grant came to the fore as a key player and that was shown back in June in the Nicky Rackard final where he hit 1-5 at Croke Park as Derry made light work of Armagh on a 3-22 to 2-15 scoreline. The win sealed their return to the Christy Ring this year.

His efforts also earned him a place in the prestigious Shinty panel – and Irish team of 20 players who took on Scotland in the annual international game back in November.

At club level, it was a mixed bag for Na Magha and Grant, who claimed an emphatic victory over Coleraine in the Derry championship final, but are still searching for an Ulster title.

2017 will be known as the year when Daryl Gurney crossed the line inti darts stardom.

When Gurney dropped to his knees at the end of the World Grand Prix final in Dublin a couple of months ago, he became darts newest major winner and rubber stamped a superb year on the PDC tour.

It all started 12 months ago with a career-best run to the World Championship quarter-final that set him on a brilliantly consistent course to that emotional success and a status as one of the most in-demand names in the game.

Gurney's 2017 has made him one of the sports most respected competitors; he has risen to fourth in the Order of Merit, reached at least the last eight of every major televised tournament this year. Only world no 1 and winning machine Michael van Gerwen could match Gurney's consistency in the biggest events of the year.

Mother-of-three Lisa Curran is a rising name in the sport of ‘Crossfit’, a relatively new phenomenon that is slowly but surely making itself known worldwide.

Lisa, who trains at the only Crossfit gym in Derry’s Pennyburn Industrial Estate, is in her sixth year of the sport and has progressed to such a level that she finished 3rd in the United Kingdom at the Crossfit Open Games at the start of 2017. If that is not impressive enough, Lisa’s achievements earned her 12th place in Europe overall and 103rd best in the entire world, not a bad achievement for someone with three boys under ten years of age.

Lisa’s recent achievements in the Crossfit Open Games qualified her for the Masters Online Qualifiers, a worldwide event that she has never attempted before.

2017 ended on a high with a podium finish at the North West Fitness Championship.