Sailor named 2009 Paralympic SportsWoman of the Year

From the Marblehead Reporter in Mass.:

MARBLEHEAD, Mass. - U.S. Sailing’s Olympic Sailing Committee has named Marblehead resident Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (pictured) 2009 Paralympic SportsWoman of the Year.

After winning a Paralympic gold medal with Nick Scandone in the SKUD-18 in Qingdao, China in 2008, McKinnon-Tucker transitioned from a double-handed keelboat to a triple-handed keelboat with ease in 2009.

After sailing together for less than a year, Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J.), McKinnon-Tucker and Hugh Freund (South Freeport, Maine) scored a string of “bullets,” or first-place finishes, and won a gold medal in the Sonar class at Sail for Gold in Weymouth, England.

The team also won a bronze medal at U.S. Sailing’s 2009 Rolex Miami OCR, the first event in which they sailed together, and finished second in the ISAF Sailing World Cup standings in the Sonar.

Last year, McKinnon-Tucker won U.S. Sailing’s 2008 Team of the Year distinction with Scandone.

The OSC has nominated McKinnon-Tucker and seven other U.S. team AlphaGraphics sailors to the United States Olympic Committee for consideration for the 2009 SportsMan, SportsWoman and Team of the Year awards across all Olympic and Paralympic sports. Each sport’s national governing body selects their outstanding athletes for consideration for this prestigious national distinction. This year, the USOC has expanded its Paralympic category to include a Paralympic SportsMan, SportsWoman and Team of the Year, rather than just one Paralympic winner. The overall winners will be announced in January.

“It’s been year of good training of sailing on many types of boats this year and with different sailors,” said McKinnon-Tucker.

McKinnon-Tucker thanked her newest supporter, In Shape for Women, whose personal-training services she credited with getting her fitter and even stronger in prepare her for her next campaign for the 2012 Paralympics in London. McKinnon-Tucker hopes other businesses and individuals will get behind another potentially very successful bid and share in the pride of bringing another gold medal back to Marblehead.

“Going into 2010, there will be massive boat charter fees, costs for several competitions overseas, months’ worth of lodging costs, a new faster boat and frequent sail upgrades, which I am hoping local donors may help support,” she said.