JUDGES

Roddy Guiney (Chair)

Roddy Guiney , a former Chairman of the Federation of Irish Sport , has been involved in sport all his life. He grew up in a sporting family, his father Dave being an Olympian and a very successful sportswriter and historian. Roddy, who is still Chairman of Wilson Hartnell, the country’s largest public relations company. He spent most of his working career with that company and was responsible for creating its sports marketing arm, which today is involved in many of the country’s leading sports sponsorships.

Clare McGrath

Clare is the Chairperson of the Federation of Irish Sport. She is a lifelong member of Water Safety Ireland and Swim Ireland. Having served on the Swim Ireland Munster Regional Executive in various roles including Secretary and Treasurer. She was Swim Ireland President 2009/2010. From 2012 to 2014 Clare served as a Swim Ireland board member and also as Chairman to the SI board from 2014-2019. She is currently a member of the board of Water Safety Ireland, for a 5 year term and appointed as Chairman of the Lifesaving Sport Commission, responsible for all Regional and National competitions, National squads and International teams.

Shane McArdle

A graduate of both DIT Cathal Brugha Street and Smurfit Business School, Shane has been in leadership roles in the sports and leisure industry for over 25 years in a variety of sectors. His previous roles include those in the fitness industry, leisure consultancy and sports facility management. Having taken the role of Coordinator in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Sports Partnership in 2008, he collaborates with a range of partner organisations to increase participation in sport and physical activity across all age groups and abilities in the County. While a large proportion of his time would be spent in leadership and strategic planning, he is also heavily involved in managing a range of events and initiatives around getting people out and active in whatever form that takes. Shane is also a Director with the Federation Irish Sport and the Dublin Mountains Partnership.

Joanne Kennedy

Joanne is the Cross Collaboration Project Manager in Sport Ireland’s Participation Unit. With two decades of experience in the financial sector and over two years at Sport Ireland, Joanne is currently focused on implementation of Sport Ireland’s Volunteering in Sport Policy and managing Dormant Accounts Funding for the sports sector. Recognising the value of volunteering, Joanne is a member of the Governance Committee of a National Governing Body.

Tony Marshall

Tony is a Regional Manager with Clann Credo – Community Loan Finance, a proud partner of the Federation of Irish Sport. Clann Credo is a not-for-profit providing affordable access to loan finance for Sports and Community groups across the country. In his role with Clann Credo Tony sees, on a daily basis, the crucial impact that volunteers have in the successful management and development of Sports Clubs.

Stephanie MacSweeney

Stephanie is the Strategic Operations Manager with Active Disability Ireland. Her role is focused on the strategic development of the organisation in helping to support others within the sport, health, education and community sectors to provide opportunities and choice for people with disabilities to participate in sport and physical activity.
With a background in the leisure, health and fitness sector and passion for sport and physical activity, Stephanie recognises how valuable volunteers are in helping people access and participate in sport.

Richard Honeyford

Richard has worked in the sports sector for over 20 years. He started his career as a
watersports instructor in 1998 and then became a coach, working with international athletes through SailCoach before coaching for NI Youth Squads and Irish Youth Academy.
He took up the position of Performance Manager for RYA Northern Ireland from 2006 to 2016, developing the performance pathway and supporting high performance athletes, including coaching the Irish men’s single handed representative at London 2012. From 2016 to 2022 Richard was Chief Operating Officer for RYA Northern Ireland and more recently became Executive Manager of the Northern Ireland Sports Forum. In sport, Richard represented Ireland at two Youth World Sailing Championships in 1998 & 1999 and won multiple youth national titles. Richards interests have always been in outdoor sports and his main hobby is windsurfing and foiling.

Claire Shannon

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