Lady Mary Peters is a big inspiration, she’s like family now: Eve … – Belfast Telegraph

Walsh Dann has cerebral palsy and has her own inspirational story to tell.

The 21-year-old is a former World Junior champion, competed for Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games last year and next year would love to be racing at the Paralympic Games in Paris.

It was the London Paralympics in 2012 and seeing Northern Ireland middle distance athlete Michael McKillop strike gold that motivated her to give athletics a try.

I was watching the 2012 Paralympics on television with my dad and Michael McKillop won gold. I didnt realise at the time that people with disabilities could do sports, explains Walsh Dann. When I saw that and that Michael had the same disability as I did, I thought I could do it and I joined North Down Athletics club.

In 2013 came a meeting with Northern Irelands greatest female sports star and forever Golden Girl.

I used to do middle distance running and cross-country and met Mary Peters at a cross-country event and ever since that day Mary has been brilliant to me, says a beaming Walsh Dann.

Every time I see her, Mary tells me to keep going and not to give up. She is a true inspiration and is like family now.

Lady Mary Peters, Eve Walsh Dann and Regional Business Manager at GLL Jonathan Michael

Starting out as an 800m runner at the age of 12, Walsh Dann switched to sprinting, revealing: Whenever I got classified into my category, we found there wasnt as many competitions for my category in the 800m so I switched over because there were more competitions in sprinting and Im so glad that I did as I enjoy the shorter races much more.

Success would follow with gold medals in 2017 at the age of 15 while representing Great Britain in the T35/T38 100m and 200m in the World Para Junior Championships.

At the time I didnt realise how big it was because I sort of just treated it as any other competition. Once I came home and everyone was making a big deal out of it, I realised that it was actually a big thing, says Walsh Dann.

The transition from being a top junior to the senior scene has been challenging but hasnt stopped her improving her personal bests year on year and climbing the national and international rankings, leading to qualification for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham where she was proud to wear the Northern Ireland vest.

Having an integrated Para programme at the Games proved a huge hit with spectators and athletes alike.

I loved it, said Walsh Dann.

The Northern Ireland team accommodation was in the same area as the other UK athletes and having competed against them I knew the English and Scottish athletes and I was introducing all my friends from the Northern Ireland team to all my friends in the English and other teams.

We ended up having get-togethers and pizzas after our races had finished and it was a lot of fun. All the Northern Ireland athletes were great, supporting each other and going to each others events.

It was brilliant to compete at the Commonwealth Games. Everyone at my local club talked about it and asked me lots of questions. They wanted to know every last detail.

Shirley McCay, Eve Walsh Dann and Aidan Walsh

In the T37/38 100m Walsh Dann finished 10th overall, running a personal best of 14.04.

Sitting together in their Bangor home, dad Kevin, who is from Norwich and a Canaries season ticket holder, makes the pertinent point: For a Paralympic athlete, the Commonwealth Games are very special in that the Para events are completely integrated with all the able bodied events. As a Para athlete you arent treated any differently. You go from the mens 400m to a Para 100m and then you have a wheelchair event and then something else.

There is no distinction between the events and it is amazing the way the Commonwealth Games organisers have done that and the support from the crowd was wonderful.

Eve has competed at European Para Championships and there may have been only a couple of hundred people there. It is so sad when you see big events like that poorly attended and I think the way the Commonwealth Games has gone is a way other competitions will eventually go by integrating events. It gives the athletes a lift to have thousands cheering them on.

When they called Eves name out and said she was from Northern Ireland there was a big cheer because she was representing a Home Nation team.

As well as speaking with passion about her sport, Eve talks with great honesty about the challenges she faces running with cerebral palsy.

A lot of it has to do with balance and co-ordination and my reaction is delayed. If someone was to say, Go Id wait and my brain would go, Oh, you need to go now rather than just immediately move, says the sprinter who has completed a diploma in Applied Sciences, Microbiology and Chemistry at South Eastern Regional College in Bangor.

I love training and competing. Some days are harder than others to motivate yourself but once you are there you feel it is worth it.

Michael McKillop celebrates winning gold at London 2012, an act which inspired Eve Walsh Dann INPHO/Courtney Crow

Combined with a competitive spirit, there is a graciousness to Walsh Dann, who is thankful for the help she receives from Athletics NI, The Mary Peters Trust and GLL Sports Foundation, the largest independent athlete support programme in the UK.

She receives a sporting bursary from GLL, insisting: That is immensely important to me. I wouldnt be able to get to more than half of the competitions I go to or have equipment I need without the support the GLL Sports Foundation gives me.

Eve is also hugely appreciative of what her mum and dad, Donna and Kevin, do for her.

Without my parents I wouldnt be able to get anywhere. I dont drive so they are my chauffeurs to take me to training and back from training. My dad organises all the flights and works out how to get to places, making sure I get there and have my numbers and that Im registered for each competition. They have been brilliant to me, says Walsh Dann, who has the World Para Championships to look forward to this year.

Proud father Kevin adds: When Eve first started her athletics it was more as a therapy for helping her with her muscles and co-ordination and stuff like that so to be able to move that from therapy into almost being a professional sportswoman is incredible.

She has put other things on hold to represent her country and her region and she still has the passion to go out on a wet Thursday night in February to train when there is sleet and rain.

It looks great when you see athletes in a big stadium and the sun is shining but you dont see the hard graft and the hours and hours that go into it behind the scenes with the likes of gym work, circuit training, wet track nights and the social sacrifices you make and Eve does all of that.

Were just so proud of her.

*The GLL Sports Foundation (GSF) is the largest independent athlete support programme in the UK and awards gifted young athletes such as Northern Ireland Paralympic sprinter Eve Walsh Dann with sporting bursaries. Since 2015, it has provided over 773 awards worth over 450,000 and last year supported 125 individuals competing at Olympic, Paralympic, Special Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth level, 84% of whom receive no other central funding towards their sporting journey.

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Lady Mary Peters is a big inspiration, she's like family now: Eve ... - Belfast Telegraph