National Lottery Is Just the Ticket for Sport in Northern Ireland

Sport in Northern Ireland has hit the jackpot thanks to more than £128 million of funding from The National Lottery in the last 20 years.

And to celebrate the National Lottery's Summer of Sport campaign Commonwealth Games-bound 400m hurdler Jason Harvey donned a unique new kilt.

Handmade from 1,300 Lotto tickets, the track ace modelled the unusual garment outside the National Lottery-funded Ulster Museum as a thank you to National Lottery players for their contribution to sport in Northern Ireland.

Since the National Lottery began in 1994, almost 3,000 projects have been funded in Northern Ireland through Sport Northern Ireland, including grants to leading athletes, the improvement of facilities and the provision of world-class coaching.

Vicki Kennedy, from the National Lottery, said: "Along with supporting athletes, money raised by National Lottery players has been invested in numerous sporting projects from grassroots to elite levels.

"National Lottery players should be proud to have played a part in the development of so many Northern Irish talents and helped provide a platform for them to succeed at the highest level."

Jason Harvey added: "National Lottery funding has been vital to athletes in Northern Ireland in many ways. Without it we would not have the high-performance coaching and facilities at the Sports Institute Northern Ireland which have been integral to our training and development.

"The kilt made of Lottery tickets is certainly not what I am used to wearing but I will be hoping it may prove to be a lucky charm as I compete for Team Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow."

Created by textile artist Malcolm Cruickshank, the distinctive kilt used more than 4,000m of thread and took 60 hours to make in his Edinburgh studio.

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