Maeve is Triathlon Ireland's Junior Athlete of the Year

TRIATHLON Ireland have awarded young Mayo athlete Maeve Gallagher their Junior Athlete of the Year title.

Maeve, aged 16, has had a busy year competing in the European Youth Olympics as part of the Team Ireland cycling squad. She has also represented Ireland at various athletics events in cross country races and at track and field events where she specialises in the 1,500m.

Earlier this year Maeve won the secondary schools triathlon race in Omagh and during the summer won a number of junior titles at triathlon races all over Ireland.

Maeve is a member of the Irish triathlon high performance squad and is hoping to achieve further success in 2018.

Maeve is a member of Swinford Athletics Club, Castlebar Swimming Club and Castlebar Cycling Club and receives coaching from all three throughout the year.

The Gallagher family's sporting success doesn't stop with Maeve. Her brother Conor (17) has been awarded a cycling scholarship from Cycle Sierra Nevada that will allow him to attend their training camp over the Christmas in the Sierra Nevada region in Spain.

A member of Castlebar Cycling Club, Conor is a cyclist with a very bright future, and has a number of national titles to his credit.

The Cycle Sierra Nevada Scholarship Programme was developed as a way to sponsor young athletes from different nationalities that may not have opportunity or financial capacity to avail of a training camp.

Conor is also launching the Martin Sheridan Bursary Award in Bohola next week as a past recipient of the sports award.

Read 'Five Minutes with Conor' on the Cycle Sierra Nevada Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CycleSierraNevada/