“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.