Several Letterkenny AC runners took part in Tuesday evening’s Convoy 5K. As in most Grand Prix races this summer, there were many impressive performances from LAC runners. The first LAC runner home was Pauric Breslin, who took 4th place in an excellent time of 15.47. Next was a young man with a bright athletics future ahead of him, Eoin Hughes, who finished in 15.58, giving him his second sub 16 minute 10K inside the last few weeks. The race winner was City of Derry AC’s Noel Logan in 15.28.
Paul McGlinchey continued his comeback with a fine performance, finishing in 16.45. Paul McFadden clocked 16.59 and Gerard McGranaghan 18.03. Maria Ni Mhaolagin continued her recent, superlative form to win the women’s race in 18.31. Brian Ferry crossed the line in 18.43.
Eoin Hughes’ father, John, made it another highly successful family night. John, one of Donegal’s most consistent M50 performers, was 1st in his category. However, the icing on the cake was that his time of 19.02 was a PB. John will hopefully achieve his first sub 19 minute 5K in the very near future. Monica McGranaghan had another excellent run. Her time of 19.15 meant that she was the second woman home and first in the F40 category. Martin Devenney also ran 19.15.
Another of Donegal’s most consistent M50 performers, Barry Mackey, was 2nd in the category in 19.26. Mark Hunter finished in 19.37 and Liam Ferry in 20.13. Kevin Greenan, who has raced prolifically since competing in the recent Boston Marathon finished in 20.42. He was 2nd in the M60 category in 20.42, with the very consistent Donal Haughey, of Tir Chonaill AC, winning the category.
Naoise Enright finished in 21.25 and Catherine McKinley in 21.50. Richard Raymond, running in a very competitive M60 category, had a fine run and clocked 22.12. Paul Sweeney ran 22.53 and another of the LAC M60 contingent, Philip Connolly, finished in 24.22.
4 of LAC’s large group of promising young runners ran in Thursday evening’s Loughside Community 5K. Billy Black had a top 10 placing in 20.50, Rowan Smith clocked 22.58, Aimee Bonner 24.33 and Emma Bonner 24.37.
There were some phenomenal LAC performances in Friday evening’s Meenreagh (Killygordon) 5K, which included a plethora of PBs. Nakita Burke’s time of 17.38 gave her a PB by almost 20 seconds and saw her finish 7th overall and first in the women’s race. Michael Galvin also notched up a PB, finishing in 18.15. Irene McFadden was another LAC runner in PB form. She ran 18.43 to finish 2nd in the women’s race and 1st in the F35 category. Ciaran O’Donnell has made an astonishingly speedy return from the knee surgery he underwent. His excellent time of 18.48 is testament to the recovery and training programme he has undertaken as well as the encouragement and help he has received from club mates. Stephen Shiels clocked 20.30, Noreen McGettigan 21.17, Margaret Shiels 21.52 and Cliodhna Dunne 24.11. Peter McLean gave himself a birthday present that must be fairly unique among 58 year old runners- a PB. Peter’s time was 24.38, completing a quartet of PBs for LAC runners.
Ben George was 3rd overall and 1st in the VM40-44 category in Saturday morning’s Letterkenny parkrun. Ben’s time for the tough 5K was 20.51. Sinead Peoples’ time of 21.07 gave her 1st place in the women’s race. Paul Lee was 1st in the VM50-54 category in 21.13. Eimear Gormley was the 2nd woman in 21.46. James McBride was the 1st VM65-69 finisher in 24.29. Young Ronan Burke’s time was 34.56.
Patrick Brennan stormed to a 4th place finish in Saturday evening’s Buncrana 10K. Partick ran 39.28 in the race that was won by Dubliner, Clonliffe Harrier David Flynn, in a very fast time of 31.52, which was 3.38 clear of the next runner. Darren Beecroft had a fine run to finish in 43.20. Kevin Greenan had yet another M60 success and won the category in 45.12. Adrian Callaghan’s time was 47.37.
In-form Annmarie McGlynn, who has chalked up a huge number of PBs recently, has been selected to represent Ireland in the European Team Championships First League. Annmarie will run in the 5000m on June 23rd-25th in the Finnish university town of Vaasa. 12 teams will compete, with 3 promotion spots available to the European Team Championships Super League in 2019. Mark English will compete in the 800m and the Relay. Meanwhile, Mark ran 1.45.42 for 800m in Stockholm. He was 2nd to Thijmen Kupers of the Netherlands and Mark’s time, a season best, is within the qualifying time for the London World Championships.
The lotto numbers for June 15th were:
7, 9, 20, 21.
There was no jackpot winner.
4 match 2 winners received €20: Irene McFadden, Willie Birch, Charlotte du Plessis and Fionnuala Diver.
Hugh Gallagher.
LAC PRO.
