It represents the biggest financial bursary currently available on an individual basis to Northern Ireland’s most talented and deserving young sports person.
The Dale Farm Sports Award is open to anyone between the ages of 16-23 taking part in all sports recognised by the Mary Peters Trust, from gymnastics to table tennis, rugby to swimming, athletics to cricket and many more.
Individuals must demonstrate excellence within their sport and can be self-nominated or nominated by any third party. However, all nominations must be supported by a recommendation from the sport’s relevant governing body.
Young Belfast boxer, Paddy Barnes was crowned the winner of the 2008 Dale Farm Sports Award, by way of unanimous decision! The young champ received his award from Dale Farm’s Andrew Nethercott together with special guest British heavyweight champion Sir Henry Cooper during the Ulster Sports Trust’s Award Evening on April 25th.
Paddy, who is NI’s first boxing Olympic winner, is the third young sporting star to claim the coveted title and receive a valuable cash bursary of £5,000. Dale Farm, in association with the Ulster Sports Trust, created the Award in 2005 to support home-grown talent and this cash boost helped play a vital role in Paddy’s preparation and training for the 2008 Olympics.
A member of Holy Family Boxing Club in West Belfast, Paddy’s achievements in 2007 make for a very impressive read, including winning a bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics, first place in the Ulster and Irish Senior Championships, Gold in the Commonwealth Championships, Silver in the Multi-Nations Tournament and fifth at the World Championships.
With the standard of finalists remaining consistently high, Dale Farm decided to add even further value to their Award by providing an additional prize fund of £750 for the runner up. This was won by Co. Donegal badminton star, Chloe Magee.
Dame Mary Peters, DBE, President of the Ulster Sports Trust passed on her congratulations to the new Dale Farm Sports Award winner, “As an Olympic champion myself, I understand the commitment and level of training that Paddy experienced. He is a great ambassador for boxing and a worthy winner of this year’s Award. We have been further encouraged by the quality of this year’s entries and once again found it difficult to select the overall winner. Each finalist should be proud of their achievements and I’m sure each one will go on and do more great things within their sport.”
If you would like to be in with a chance to win this year’s coveted ‘Dale Farm Sports Award’,why not fill out our 2009 Application Form!
