From then to now

From small beginnings in 1975 and working alongside a fundraising bid to create the now famous Mary Peters Track, Mary and a team of like-minded sports people set up the Ulster Sports and Recreation Trust.

Garnering support and essential funding, the group driven forward by Dr John Moore made its first athlete awards in 1976, supporting promising young sports people across track & field, swimming, cycling, canoeing and judo.

In 1989 the Trust was honoured to welcome HRH, The Princess Royal as patron and in 2008 the charity rebranded as the Mary Peters Trust.

Over a 50-year period, the Mary Peters Trust has provided funding awards worth in excess of £1 million to more than 5,000 athletes across 50 different sports.

Local athletes who began their careers as Mary Peters Trust recipients and went on to achieve Olympic success include boxers Hugh Russell, Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan, and Aidan Walsh; hockey players Stephen Martin, Jimmy Kirkwood, Billy McConnell and Jackie McWilliams as well as cyclist Wendy Houvenaghel and London 2012 rowers, Peter and Richard Chambers and Alan Campbell.

Mary Peters Trust Paralympian medallists include skier Kelly Gallagher, track & field athletes Michael McKillop and Jason Smyth and swimmer Bethany Firth.

Fast forward to Northern Ireland’s best ever Olympic medals haul at Paris 2024 when Trust supported athletes Rhys McClenaghan, Daniel Wiffen, Hannah Scott, Jack McMillan, Rebecca Shorten and Philip Doyle brought home a collection of gold, silver and bronze.

Here’s to the next 50 years and even more medal success for our local sporting heroes.