The Mary Peters Trust, Northern Ireland’s leading sporting charity, is set to kick off a year of celebrations with an inspiring event at the Waterfront Hall. The ‘In Conversation with’ Women in Sport event, hosted by sports journalist, Ruth Gorman, will feature a panel of extraordinary sportswomen.

The event will be the first in a series of events to mark 50 years since Lady Mary won her gold for pentathlon at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Inspired by her win, Lady Mary Peters set up the Trust in 1975 to help fund other young athletes on their sporting journey.

The panel Q&A event will be headed by Lady Mary Peters. She will be joined by Olympic gold medallist runner, Dame Kelly Holmes, Women’s Northern Ireland Football Team manager, Marissa Callaghan, and six-time Paralympic gold medallist swimmer, Bethany Firth. The panel will take place on 10^th March – two days after International Women’s Day.

In their 2021 report, UK charity Women in Sport reported that girls continue to be less involved in sports than boys with 41% of girls being part of a sports team in comparison to 63% of boys. Moreover, an estimated 4-10% of all UK sports coverage is about female sportspeople in comparison to 80% of coverage about men.

Lady Mary Peters comments: “I have been so fortunate to enjoy a life filled with sport and the comradery that comes with that. I want to encourage women of all ages to try something new in 2022. I am thrilled to be joined by such a fantastic panel of inspirational female athletes and hope you will join us to learn more about the future generation of gold medal girls”.

One of the event’s supporting sponsors is Energia Group, Ireland’s leading renewable utility and parent company to energy suppliers Power NI and Energia.

Energia Group’s Amy Bennington comments, “We are delighted to continue our support of the Mary Peters Trust, building on the charity’s partnership with Power NI, our energy supplier in Northern Ireland. At Energia Group, we are champions of Women in Sport, supporting Ireland and Leinster women’s rugby teams, Wexford Youths FC and the Women’s Energia All-Ireland League. Internally, we have recently launched our own Women in Energy network and we’re delighted to be supporting this event as part of our International Women’s Day celebrations.  

The event is also kindly sponsored by Concentrix, Alchemy Technologies, ABL, and CPS Property.

The Mary Peters Trust In Conversation With….. tickets are available at the Waterfront box office.