Mary Peters Trust marks start of 50th anniversary year

Lady Mary and her Trust delivered one big thank-you to athletes, sponsors, supporters, and local people at a special event held at Belfast City Hall to mark the 50^th anniversary year of the Mary Peters Trust.

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.

Highlighting how the Trust began, Lady Mary Peters said, “After the Munich Olympics in 1972, I was determined to help young athletes coming after me to benefit from quality training facilities and to have the financial backing to nurture their talents and drive forward to success.

“Alongside the Mary Peters Track we set up a Trust with the strapline of ‘giving local people a sporting chance’ and I’m thrilled that half a century later it’s stronger than ever and we are helping even more athletes to realise their sporting dreams.

“Our success has been focussed on helping young athletes at the very start of their journey and before they become household names, enabling them to get to next level funding and training programmes.

“It’s such a wonderful feeling seeing athletes step up onto Commonwealth, World and Olympic podiums often many years after we first funded them and as a Trust, we can’t wait to see what the future holds for our young sports people.

“It’s been an honour and a privilege to have so many athletes and their families, our sponsors and partners, local media representatives, sporting organisations and regional councils joining us to celebrate this milestone. I would especially like to thank Belfast City Council as hosts and for the honour of lighting up our iconic City Hall in the Trust colours of blue and gold.”