For his achievements during the last year which yielded a bronze medal at 1,500 metres in the European Junior Championships in Ljubliana, Slovenia, as well as National and Schools cross country titles, Gareth Turnbull from St Malachy's, Belfast, has been named the EBS Young Athlete of the Year at a reception in Dublin.

Again like several of those who have won this prestigious award in the last few years, Turnbull has elected to further his athletic and academic education on this side of the Atlantic, with the 18-year-old Belfastman currently pursuing a politics degree in Loughborough in England.

Despite his high-profile victory in the middle distance cross country race in Durham at the beginning of this month, Turnbull has decided not to contest the World Cross Country Championships in Morocco next March. Instead, he will concentrate his energies on improving on his bronze medal placing at 1,500 metres in the World Junior Championships in France next August.