‘She’s an icon’ – Paralympic hero Michael McKillop on 50 years of the Mary Peters Trust

The 2025 Sport Inspires festive fundraiser for the Mary Peters Trust takes place next month

On November 21, some of the biggest names in sport will gather at the Europa Hotel in Belfast for a gala lunch event to celebrate 50 years of the Mary Peters Trust.

As well as Northern Ireland’s Golden Girl of the 1972 Munich Olympics, Lady Mary herself, and her special guests, Olympic ice skating champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, the event will be graced by Glengormley man Michael McKillop, one of the bona fide legends of Irish and Paralympic sport.

The middle distance runner retired in 2021 having filled his trophy cabinet with four Paralympic gold medals, four World Championship golds and two European titles – not to mention an honorary doctorate from Queen’s University and an MBE, awarded in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to disability awareness and athletics in Northern Ireland.

Since his glittering career came to a close, he has been working as a motivational speaker and now sits on the board as a director of the Mary Peters Trust, which works to support talented young athletes from Northern Ireland in all sports – able-bodied and disabled.

Having received his first bursary from the Trust as a teenager, McKillop has walked the walk all the way to the big time – and he is a passionate advocate for the work that Lady Mary and her team have been doing for five decades.

“I remember being given my first £500 and it really does make a difference,” he told Belfast Live.

“It gives you that little boost that goes, ‘Okay, someone’s willing to give me money because I’m good at sport. I’m going to work even harder because if that allows me to go and compete at a national level and then maybe get my first Ireland vest, then I might get a little bit more support’.

“And where does that lead you? It gradually allows you to dream. Now that we’re winning Olympic medals and previously Paralympic medals in Northern Ireland, that is what we’re trying to do, to allow younger athletes to dream big.”

McKillop is just one of a long line of top athletes from Northern Ireland who have enjoyed the support of the Mary Peters Trust at some stage in their careers – Rory McIlroy, Carl Frampton, Ciara Mageean, Graeme McDowell, Jason Smyth, Paddy Barnes, Bethany Firth, Michael Conlan, Richard and Peter Chambers, Rhys McClenaghan, Daniel Wiffen, Claire Taggart – the list goes on and on.

Read more: Star-studded gala event to celebrate 50 years of the Mary Peters Trust

He added: “I think you just have to look at the Olympic Games [in 2024] and the amount of medals we got from Northern Ireland. I would say every single one of those medals had a bursary from the Trust, and one thing I love about the Trust itself is that it doesn’t leave anyone out.

“It doesn’t matter if you play boccia in the Paralympic Games or you’re an Olympic gymnast or an Olympic rower, Mary has sought to commit and to support anyone that competes at an international level or a national level, and that is unheard of.”

It’s also worth noting that the Trust doesn’t care which vest you wear or which flag you compete under, as long as you represent Northern Ireland. That last point was as important to Lady Mary in her career as it was to Michael in his – even though she wore red, white and blue, and he wore the colours of Ireland.

“It doesn’t matter about politics, it doesn’t matter about green or orange, it’s whether or not you’re competing at an international level or national level, and do you do deserve to be a part of this bursary?” he said. “All [Lady Mary] wants is for the next generation to have the opportunity to be involved in sport.

“When she came back from winning in 1972, she said in an interview, ‘I went to win gold, I won gold, and I brought it home for you’. And that resonates with me because I grew up in a mixed area. I have a lot of Protestant friends, I grew up with a lot of them, my family is mixed.

“When I went and won a gold medal at 16 years of age, it didn’t matter that I had a tricolour on my back, I won it for the people that wanted to support me, and celebrated my success. So from such a young age, I knew what I meant to know where I came from and respect the people that cared for me and loved me for who I was.

“So in my interviews I always said, ‘I compete for the island of Ireland’.”

And that’s why he had no problem accepting an MBE five years ago – though it undoubtedly ruffled a few feathers that an Irish sporting hero should be honoured by the Royal Family.

Read more: NI’s Molly McKenna on the ups and downs of trampolining and her Cirque du Soleil dream

“I don’t care about politics,” he said. “I am so proud that I took it because my auntie has an MBE, my uncle has an MBE, and to be able to have that together is quite special and unique.

“Yeah, okay, some people may say that it’s not on, but I don’t see that. I see it as a sign of respect and what I do off the track is also one of the reasons why I received it – the services I gave to disability awareness and sport, and my success.

“I am very passionate about giving sporting opportunities to anyone, especially disabled people as a disabled man myself. I think that’s another reason why Mary considered me for being on the board because she knows how passionate I am about sport and helping and supporting every single person that stands and competes for the island and for Northern Ireland.

“You could kind of say we have the same principles, we have the same core values, and I think that’s maybe why we have linked in and why we respect one another so much.”

Despite the 51-year age gap between these two sporting heroes (he’s 35, she’s 86), McKillop regards Lady Mary as a close friend – she even took him to her 80th birthday celebrations as her plus one.

“Mary is a hilarious lady,” he smiled. “She loves her gin. She is a fun-loving person, and that’s maybe why she’s 86 and still going, and wants to do more.

“If you speak to her, she doesn’t act like an 86-year-old. I think that’s quite special. I think a lot of people just think Mary turns up at all these private functions and she’s there to receive awards or she’s there to talk, but if you really got the opportunity to speak to her one-on-one or get a wee conversation, she’ll make you laugh and she’ll make you see her in a different light, but in a good light. That’s something that we all should cherish.

“I call her the Golden Girl. She’s an icon and she will go down in history as one of Northern Ireland’s biggest sports stars, and she deserves it for what she has done. It goes back to her winning a medal in 1972, and 50 years later we’re still talking about her, and that’s testament to her.”

The 2025 Sport Inspires festive fundraiser for the Mary Peters Trust takes place at the Europa Hotel, Belfast on Friday, November 21. For more information or to book a table, contact events@asgcomms.com. Tickets cost £120 plus VAT per person / £1,200 plus VAT per table of 10.