Dame Mary Peters, special guest of honour at Ballymoney Sports Awards
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Dame Mary Peters, winner of an Olympic gold in Munich in 1972, says don’t forget to nominate your favourite for the Ballymoney Sports Awards which take place in the autumn.
HOW fitting in this, an Olympic year, that the Ballymoney Sports Advisory Committee has secured the services of the province's most successful ever Olympian, Dame Mary Peters, to be the special guest at its annual Sports Awards ceremony to be held later this autumn.
Our very own 'Golden Girl,' Mary Peters won a gold medal in the Pentathlon at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, winning the affection of ordinary people across the world in the process.
She has continued to take an active interest in sport in her later years and has served in numerous roles including as President of the British Athletics Federation and Patron of the NI Amateur Athletic Federation.
Not surprisingly, she is following the fortunes of this year's Breat Britain team closely, not least the three rowers from Coleraine - Alan Campbell, Richard Archibald and Richard Chambers - and she is looking forward to sharing her Olympic Games experiences with guests in Ballymoney Town Hall later in the autumn.
“It will be a pleasure for me to attend the Ballymoney Sports Awards and I am delighted to be taking part in the function -especially in an Olympic year," she said this week.
Joining Dame Mary at the glittering event which last year attracted almost 200 people will be popular BBC NI sports presenter Stephen Watson, a man familiar to many in Ballymoney through his love of road racing, who will act as compere on the night.
There will be 12 awards up for grabs on the evening of October 4 including the much coveted titles of Sportsman and Sportswoman and Sports Team of the Year.
Those behind the scenes, including coaches and club officials, will get due recognition while one famous name is likely to succeed last year's nominee, rugby star Davy Tweed, and enter the Hall of Fame.
Nomination forms are currently available and have been distributed to sports and community groups throughout the borough.
They are also available at the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre, Riada House, Ballymoney Town Hall and the Ballymoney office of main sponsors, The Chronicle, as well as local newsagents and online at www.ballymoney.gov.uk.
“We are delighted once again to be sponsoring the Ballymoney Sports Awards with Kelly's of Portrush and McCarty's Insurance, and we look forward to another successful and enjoyable evening in October," said Richard Baker, Group Manager of the Northern Newspaper Group.
“Ballymoney Town Hall is a wonderful location for this event and I look forward to meeting Dame Mary Peters."
