Cavendish, Adlington top journalists' poll

Mark Cavendish and Rebecca Adlington have been voted Britain's Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year respectively in a poll of members of the UK-based Sports Journalists' Association. Isle of Man cyclist Cavendish won the world road race title in Copenhagen having previously won the green jersey at the 2011 Tour deFrance. US Open golf champion Rory McIlroy and world athletics 5,000 metres champion Mo Farah were the runners-up in the men's category. Swimming star Adlington, a reigning Olympic champion, won gold in the 800m at the World Championships in Shanghai July. She beat world champion triathlete and group one race-winning jockey Hayley Turner in the poll of SJA members. Batsman Jonathan Trott received the award for Team of the Year on behalf of the England cricket squad, who started 2011 by completing an Ashes triumph in Australia and then whitewashed India in a home series as they became the world's number one-ranked Test team. Sarah Stevenson, who went to South Korea and won a world championship title in taekwondo - that country's national sport - whilst having looked after her terminally ill parents, both of whom died this year, won the SJA committee award. The recognition for Adlington and Stevenson follows the controversy involving the absence of any female nominees for the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.