Mary Atkinson

Freelance Journalist at BBC News Streaming. Previously Journalism Coordinator at BBC Radio York. 

Formerly Deputy Sport Editor at Palatinate the SPA 2022 Best Sport Section UK & Ireland and Presenter/Researcher at PalTV, the NASTA Student Broadcaster of the Year UK 2022 & 2023. 

In addition, I have experience in social media as a Social Media and Communications Intern at St Chad's College, Social Media, Merchandising and Website team member at Empowered by Vee & Visual Content Creator at Driven by Diversity. 

Furthermore, I have cultivated followings of up to 5000 on my personal channels and 130,000 likes on Tik Tok.

Further information is available on my LinkedIn. 

Palatinate •

Does the route to Formula 1 need reform?

As W Series is forced to conclude their season three races early due to financial issues and as Nyck de Vries finally gets a Formula One contract three years after his championship winning Formula 2 season, the complex and unfair nature of F1’s feeder series’ and highly structured route to F1 has never been seen more starkly.

The road to F1 is notoriously difficult both financially and statistically, with only 20 spots available for all aspiring global talent. However, access to the junior series…
Unfortunate Honesty •

The Tour de Femmes: a step towards equality in women’s sport

As the Zwift CEO, the Tour de Femmes title sponsor said as the history-making 8 day women’s tour concluded at La Super Planche de Belles Filles in the Vosges mountains, the tour “exceeded everyone’s expectations”.

24, six-a-piece teams sat on the startline on the Eiffel Tower to Champs-Élysées stage on the morning of 24th of July, as the men’s tour also drew to a close on cycling’s most iconic street later that day. The tour was the...
Palatinate •

The legacy of Sebastian Vettel: the four-time World Champion and outspoken activist

When I saw that Sebastian Vettel had joined Instagram, I thought I was having some form of hallucination. The man who had been so strongly and happily offline, the only member of the F1 grid without any form of social media, had joined us all.

However, this bewildered happiness was short-lived as his first post would perhaps be the most important of his career. Published in both English and German, the driver announced his retirement after 15 years in the sport with 53 race wins and 4 consecutive…
Palatinate •

Simon Lazenby: "I’m only here because I was a shit grain trader”

For Simon Lazenby, Durham is very close to heart. “I knew I was going to Durham the moment I arrived at the station – I fell in love with it the moment I stepped off the train”.

He studied Natural Sciences at St Hild and Bede College from 1993– 1996. We sat down on an early- February day to discuss everything from Durham to his career today, travelling the globe as a presenter for Sky Sports F1.

Talking about his days as a student, Lazenby laughed and said, “it was good fun, but I’m not sure…
Palatinate •

Fashion: F1’s next sponsorship opportunity?

Fashion and F1, are perhaps not the most obviously connected mediums. Formula 1 is often historically seen as a boys club while fashion is often displayed on the other end of the spectrum, as a female pursuit with a toxic environment, think of The Devil Wears Prada…

However, the tide has undoubtedly begun to shift in Formula 1. The recent 2021 F1 global fan survey undertaken by the Motorsport Network, recorded the highest ever female participation at 18.3% an 8.3% rise in four years, with the highest...
Palatinate •

Durham University Hockey Club beat Scotland’s U21 men’s and women’s teams

Durham University Hockey Club’s (DUHC) men’s and women’s 1st teams recently took two wins against Scotland’s under 21s in challenge matches at Peffermill. The men’s and women’s 1st teams took a 5-1 and 1-0 victory respectively in the first set of matches, with 2-1 and 4-0 in the second games.

In the first match for the men’s team, Durham scored two goals in the first three minutes against a slower Scottish side who were unable to convert three corners into goals.

The Durham team continued their…
Palatinate •

New restrictions imposed for university and college sport

As a part of the University’s temporary adjustments for teaching, learning, and the wider student experience (WSE) for the beginning of Epiphany term, new restrictions have been announced for both university and college-level sport. These restrictions will be in place until “at least January 23rd”.

A negative LFT from the previous 48 hours from a University testing site must be presented for participation in all University or college sport, both indoor and outdoor.

Indoor sport will be capped…
Palatinate •

Rosanna Tennant: “The pendulum has swung” for women in F1

“I was in the Williamson building at St Mary’s. I remember looking out onto this little patch of grass outside my room and [BBC newsreader] Sophie Raworth rang me and was like ‘Oh, I’ll help you decide whether to go to City or Cardiff ’ … I always have a real memory of that little bit of Durham, in my room at Williamson talking to Sophie Raworth”, Rosanna Tennant reflects fondly on her time as a Durham undergrad. We discussed her journey from Durham to today in the run up to July’s Hungarian Grand Prix…
Palatinate •

Kimi Raikkonen: 19 years in Formula 1, looking back on the career of ‘The Iceman’

Kimi Raikkonen’s announcement of retirement at the end of the 2021 season after 19 years in F1 came in perhaps the most Raikkonen fashion possible; no big fanfare, no large spectacle, just a few words, via an Instagram post late at night. Ahead of the heavily rumoured announcement date at the Italian Grand Prix, Alfa Romeo’s home Grand Prix. The announcement was seemingly unplanned with the team not posting until 20 minutes after the Finn…
Palatinate •

Durham Women FC Captain Sarah Wilson: “there’s no pressure on us” as season opens with a win against Watford

Last season was one to remember for those involved at Durham Women’s Football Club. A second-place finish in the Women’s Championship, narrowly missing out on promotion to the Women’s Super League, capped off their finest season since the club’s inception in 2014. This season has already started off with success in a 2-1 win at Maiden Castle against newly-promoted Watford.

We sat down (albeit virtually, in true 2020 fashion) with club captain Sarah Wilson ahead of the new season. She talked eve
Palatinate •

Durham alumna Gemma Collis McCann heads for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic games

Durham alumna Gemma Collis McCann heads for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, opening August 24th, competing in the wheelchair fencing Category A épée and sabre events.

Tokyo will mark Collis McCann’s third Paralympic games after taking up fencing at Durham University in 2011 whilst studying Law, where she was recruited by Hungarian wheelchair fencing coach Laszlo Jakab. Collis McCann qualified for London 2012 just 11 months into the sport and finished eighth at Rio 2016. She hopes to improve on..
Palatinate •

Too many drivers, not enough seats: the F1 2022 driver market

With just 20 seats and ten teams, F1 seats are scarce. However, there is a wealth of talent available to teams; both within junior series’ and more experienced drivers who have found themselves seatless. That then presents the issue, with too many drivers and not enough seats who do teams sign to carry their teams into the 2022 regulations? Let’s break down the rumours and drivers deserving of a 2022 drive.

The most speculated driver line-up for 2022. With seven-time-world champion Lewis Hamilton...
Palatinate •

Five of the best Tokyo 2020 moments

When the International Olympic Committee declared in May that Tokyo 2020 would go ahead come pandemic emergency or not, the games were cemented in controversy.

After 16 days of action-packed sporting brilliance, it is now fair to say the games will also go down in history for boasting moments of success, resilience, and exemplary sportsmanship. Perhaps this was the global sporting tonic that the world needed, a distraction from much of the hardship of the past 18 months, celebrating the best at…
Palatinate •

Tokyo 2020: Team GB week two medal roundup

With the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games now at a close, Team GB finishing in 4th place behind the USA, China, and Japan with a medal count matching that of London 2012 at 65, I decided to round up all the Team GB medal-winning action that you may have missed.

In the first week of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games Team GB achieved a total of 24 medals.

And in the second week (plus two additional days) Team GB achieved a further whopping 41 medals, the details of which, you can find below...
Palatinate •

Tom Pidcock’s spectacular Olympic gold medal: why you should watch mountain biking

After Tom Pidcock’s Tokyo 2020 spectacular, dominating, gold win in the Men’s XCO (Cross-Country Olympics) mountain biking event, just eight weeks following an incident where Pidcock broke his collarbone after being hit by a car during training with his team INEOS Grenadiers, there has been increased attention to the sport and, this is why you should check it out. Particularly, the sport’s most elite and popular series, the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup...
Palatinate •

Tokyo 2020: Team GB week one medal roundup

With the first week of the 16-day Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games completed, leaving Team GB sitting in sixth in the overall medal count, I decided to round up the first week’s medal-winning events and athletes, enduring the sometimes brutal feeling time difference, so you don’t have to.

In the first week of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Team GB achieved six gold’s, eight silver’s and nine bronzes, an overall total of 23 medals (July 23rd, 2021 – July 30th, 2021.)

Team GB’s first three gold medals of the games…
Palatinate •

Osaka’s Wimbledon withdrawal a timely reminder of the continual issues surrounding athlete mental health

Being on my college’s welfare team, mental health is something we talk about a lot. Even in my personal life, being the survivor of severe illness in my late teens and the Ariana Grande Terror Attack has left mental health a transparent topic.

In the world of sport, however, it couldn’t be more different despite the high pressure and mental demands, usually from childhood for most athletes. The mental health of athletes is often an afterthought, and that needs to change, especially with damning…
Palatinate •

W Series: F1’s newest support series

W-Series: the all-female single-seater racing series, is soon set to return, better than ever, and now partnering with Formula One for the 2021 season.

The series’ inaugural season was in 2019 with the intention of increasing inclusivity and opportunities for women within motorsport. This is particularly important for a single-seater series as, while many sports are growing in female representation and gaining more attention in the mainstream, there are now fewer women racing single-seaters than…
Formula Careers •

"Future Faces of F1?" - The Student Series - Mary Atkinson

To say my journey so far has been a crazy one might be a little bit of an understatement, here’s why.

Hi, my name is Mary, I am a twenty-one-year-old student currently in my second of four years at Durham University studying Liberal Arts a unique interdisciplinary program which allows students to study up to four subjects from three faculties – Arts & Humanities, Business and the Social Sciences. I’m currently studying English Literature, Philosophy and International Relations, with the aim of
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