Cavendish wins journalists’ award

World road race champion and most successful British Tour de France rider Mark Cavendish beat distance runner Mo Farah and golfer Rory McIlroy to win the Sportsman of the Year award from Britain’s Sports Journalists’ Association (SJA) yesterday.

Cavendish topped a poll of more than 800 sports writers, who also named Rebecca Adlington, the 800 metres freestyle world swimming champion, as Sportswoman of the Year.

Cavendish’s achievements on the road were recognised after he won the green jersey for best sprinter at the Tour de France in July, when he also won five stages to take his career tally in the race to 20. He also became Britain’s first male road world champion since 1965 when he triumphed in Copenhagen in September.

Farah, who took the 5,000m world title after agonisingly missing out on the 10,000m gold in Daegu, finished second, with US Open winner McIlroy third in the poll that has been in existence since 1949.

World champion triathlete Helen Jenkins and jockey Hayley Turner finished second and third in the women’s poll behind Adlington. The 22-year-old added the 800 metres world title to her 400/800 Olympic double at the Beijing Olympics.

Adlington’s award will go some way to making up for her absence from the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award shortlist, which attracted criticism after it contained ten men and no women.

England’s cricketers, who rose to No 1 in the world Test rankings and retained the Ashes by defeating Australia, were the runaway winners of the team-of-the year award.

They beat Europe’s Solheim Cup-winning women golfers and world champion rowing pair Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins.