McCoy RTE Sports Person of the Year Tony McCoy capped off a fantastic year when last night honoured with the RTÉ Sports Person of the Year for 2013. McCoy, who rode a 4,000th jumps winner in Ireland and Britain in November, received the prestigious award from Irish Sports Council chief executive John Treacy. After over 25 years in the saddle and 18 consecutive champion jockey titles, the Moneyglass, County Antrim man has the 5,000 winner landmark on his radar. The 39-year-old, who claimed the BBC Sport version of the prize in 2010 and finished third in this year’s instalment, fought off stiff opposition from Rob Heffernan, Martyn Irvine, Tony Kelly, Michael Darragh Macauley, Michael McKillop, Annalise Murphy, Joseph O’Brien, Jason Quigley, Jonathan Sexton and Jason Smyth to lift the prize. McCoy, who recorded winner 4000 with a typically determined ride on board Mountain Tunes at Towcester on 7 November, told host Darragh Maloney: “It’s great, it’s a fantastic honour.” The weighing room veteran was keen to pay tribute to his fellow nominees. “Any one of them would be a very worthy winner,” he insisted.
