South West College motor vehicle apprentice Declan McGrath, from Belleek, County Fermanagh scooped a gold medal in automotive technology at the recent EuroSkills competition in Lille, France
BELLEEK student, Declan McGrath (21), a motor vehicle apprentice at the Omagh campus of South West College scooped a gold medal in automotive technology at the recent EuroSkills competition in Lille, France.
And, the achievement was every bit as rigorous as winning the gold can be.
From Thursday-Saturday, 2-4th October, he was one of 417 young skilled workers from 25 countries who competed in 41 skills for the title of Best in Europe at EuroSkills.
It is the largest European skills competition.
Declan travelled to Lille as part of Team UK. The squad was made up of 21 competitors representing 16 skills, and they returned home with a haul of 3 gold medals, 6 silver medals and 3 medallions for excellence.
Based on average scores, they helped the UK to fifth spot.
A spokesman for the team told the Herald that it had been a number of years since Northern Ireland apprentices had grabbed a gold medal.
“Declan is in his final year studies, so he knows his stuff. He will now be going on to the WorldSkills competition and, all in all, he seems to be a very high calibre student.”
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