Athletics NI Athletes Honoured by Mary Peters Trust

02 November 2017

Athletics NI Athletes Honoured by Mary Peters Trust

Eve Dann recieving her award from Dame Mary Peters.

In recognition of achievements in 2017, a number of junior track & field athletes have been awarded support from the Mary Peters Trust at an awards ceremony at the Girdwood Community Hub, Belfast.

Athletes included Hepathlete Kate O’Connor (Coaches - Gough, Kerr, McMullen, O’Connor, Reynolds)  who finished 8th at the European U20 Championships and gained a Commonwealth Games nomination.

Eve Dann who won double Gold in the 100m and 200m in the T36 at the World Junior Para Championships, and Aaron Sexton, who took gold in the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas in the 200m, both coached by Roger Sexton, also received awards.

As was Anna McCauley (Coach – Maureen McCauley) who set the Northern Ireland U18 100mH record and represented NI at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Hepathlon.

The Mary Peters Trust offers financial support for promising junior international athletes across all sports that is designed to help them reach the level where they can then receive further funding.

Other athletes to receive the awards in recent years include Adam McMullen, Amy Foster, Katie Kirk, as well as Olympians Kerry O’Flaherty and Paul Pollock.

From outside of athletics, other sports stars to receive the award in the past have been Rory McIlroy, and boxers Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlon.

Tom Reynolds, Athlete Development Lead at Athletics NI, said: “We are delighted that the Mary Peters Trust have decided to support four of our most promising junior international athletes.

“We hope that this invaluable support will allow them to build towards their 2018 competition aims and continue their progress up our Athlete Development Pathway towards the Podium Potential level.”