Almost 100 runners took part in Sunday’s annual Letterkenny AC Turkey Trot, which was run in excellent conditions. Normally, prizes go to the fastest runners. However, in the Turkey Trot, prizes go to those runners who can achieve the most accurate correlation between their pre race prediction and their actual finishing time.
No runners got an exact match between their prediction and their finishing time. However, Jackie Harvey’s time of 22.49 was just 1 second away from her prediction. LAC athlete Paddy McDaid ran 18.18 and was just 2 seconds out. Alan Mailey, Paddy Hannigan and Mary Martin were also just 2 seconds out. Paul Skinnader and John Daly were 3 seconds away; Dermot Gallagher and Gerard McConnell were 4 seconds away. The 10th turkey went to Niamh McDaid of LAC, whose time of 25.04 was just 4 seconds outside her prediction.
The runaway race winner was David Flynn, of Dublin club Clonliffe Harriers. David ran a very fast time of 15.25. A large number of LAC runners took part. Karol Duggan was 2nd overall in 16.26 and Annmarie McGlynn’s time of 16.29 gave her 3rd place. Raymond Birch clocked 17.15, Kevin Ferry 18.25, Patrick Brennan 18.26 and Brian McCrossan 18.30.
Paul McBride crossed the line in 19.00, Michael Galvin in 19.45 and Darren Beecroft, who has made an excellent recovery from the Dublin Marathon, clocked 19.48.
John McFadden finished in 20.17, Deirdre Diver in 20.27, Adrian Callaghan’s time was 20.40, Paul Lee finished in 20.43, Mark McFadden in 20.47 and Stephen Shiels in 20.52.
M60 athlete, Jimmy McBride, is defying the years and is currently in the form of his life. His recent retirement from work has clearly had a positive impact on his running. He came home in 21.33. It was Jimmy’s second race in consecutive days. On Saturday, he was 3rd in the Letterkenny parkrun 5K, in a time of 22.10. Richard Raymond ran 22.03 and a 3rd LAC M60, Brian McBride clocked 22.21. Pat McKenna finished in 23.07, Ben George in 23.19 and Sinead Peoples in 24.22. Aidan McKenna did a fine pacemaking job to take Bambi Doherty home in 24.27. Peter McLean ran 25.21, which was 99 seconds faster than he had run in the previous day’s Letterkenny parkrun. The parkrun depends upon volunteers for its success. On Saturday, 2 LAC members, Richard Raymond and Cathal Roarty, who had competed previously in the parkrun, took on stewarding duties.
The club is grateful to club members, Jason and Sharon Black, for providing continued, generous sponorship of the Turkey Trot through their nightclub, Voodoo Venue. Thanks are also due to Brendan McDaid and his team of hard working organisers, stewards, First Aid personnel and An Garda Siochana.
This Sunday, the European Cross Country Championships will take place in Chia, Italy. Experienced LAC coach, Teresa McDaid, is Team Manager of the women’s Senior and Under 23 teams. It is a well deserved honour for Teresa, who puts so much time into developing LAC athletes.
Hugh Gallagher.
Letterkenny AC PRO.
