Tiffany Brien, Northern Ireland’s entry into Miss World this year, joined Olympic athletes in lending her support to hopeful youths entering the RYANI Youth Championships sailing competition. Tiffany praised the competition and was there to hand out the top prizes to the eventual winners.

The competition is an important event in the world of sailing, a point emphasized by Olympic sailor James Espey, who competed in the Laser class at London 2012 “It’s great to see the young kids coming through, I took inspiration from an Olympic sailor from my club and it’s great to think that I could inspire someone here this weekend to follow in my footsteps.” Tiffany entered the competition when she was 16, dominating the Laser Radial Class and winning the school cup with her college. (see picture below, right)

Tiffany herself is a very promising sailor, but decided to take a break from competitive sailing. “…The training was very intense and pressurized and it just got a bit too much for me. It was a really hard decision... but I felt it was something I had to do for me.” said Tiffany earlier the year.  She hasn’t ruled out competitive sailing in the future, and continues to sail for pleasure.
The Event earlier this month included races held for the Topper, Laser and 420 Classes. The Schools Cup winners were the Methodist College.