Letterkenny Athletics Club Notes



Danny Mooney had a superlative run in the 1500m at the Belfast Irish Milers Meet on Saturday. Despite a fierce wind, he left the rest of the field trailing in his wake and posted a winning time of 3.45.49. Matthew Johnston and Eoin Hughes also had excellent runs, with Matthew  finishing in 4.12.40 and Eoin in 4.23.57. In the 100m, Peter Glass performed well and was 2nd in a time of 11.56s.
Annmarie McGlynn travelled to the Finnish town of Vassar at the weekend as part of the Irish team who were competing in the European Athletics Team Championships First League. Annmarie is currently in the best form of her life and carried this good form into these championships. She ran a 5000m track PB of 16.03.64, which earned her 6th place in a high quality field. Mark English won the 800m in a time of 1.49.02.  Mark was also one of the Irish 4 x 400m relay team that finished 2nd. These performances helped the Irish team into a sufficiently elevated position to ensure Irish participation at this level in the 2019 Championship.
Letterkenny AC runners have been to the fore in many of this summer’s Grand Prix events and Tuesday evening’s Glenswilly 5K followed the familiar pattern. Pauric Breslin stormed to victory in an impressive time of 15.40. He was closely   followed by in-form Karol Duggan who clocked 15.44. Raymond Birch was 5th overall and 1st in the M35 category in 16.57. Sean McFadden had a top 10 finish and won the M40 category in 17.45.
Maria Ni Mhaolagain’s excellent form continued and her time of 18.26 gave her victory in the women’s race. Brian Ferry finished in 18.29. Niall Barry finished beside him in 18.30 and Niall expressed  satisfaction afterwards with his performance following an injury. There was a gargantuan battle for the  M50 prize between 2 LAC runners who are among the most consistent M50 performers in the County, John Hughes and Barry Mackey. Both finished in 19.08, with John taking the prize by 0.6 of a second.
Philip McGhee clocked 19.16, Kieran Coyle 19.17 and Pol Mac Giolla Bhride 19.40. Naoise Enright finished in 20.48, Kevin Greenan in 20.56, M55 winner Frank Pinder in 21.19, Katie McGee in 21.21 and Richard Raymond in 22.10.
Irene McFadden guided John Doherty to a fine time of 23.04. There were also good performances from Brian Gallagher  23.49, Ruari McFadden  24.08, Antain Boyle  24.52, Ciaran Liddy and Phil Boyle both 24.58, Shauna McGeehan 26.48 and loyal LAC man Jimmy Gildea 33.49.
Fast times were the order of the day in Wednesday’s St Joseph’s 5K in Gransha, Derry. 72 of the 634 runners came home in sub 20 minutes and Adrian Callaghan was one of them, in a time of 19.49. The race winner was Conan McCaughey in 15.09. Aoife Nash finished in 22.08 and Cliodhna Dunne in 23.39.
The vast majority of Grand Prix races are 5K in length. However, Friday evening saw the inaugural Aghyaran 10K.
Paul McGlinchey’s excellent comeback continued with a top 10 finish in a time of 35.31. The race winner was Finn Valley AC’s Dermot McElchar in 34.09. The race signalled Natasha Adam’s return to competitive action following a foot injury. It was a most impressive comeback and her time of 36.25 saw her claim 2nd place in the women’s race. First place in the women’s race went to Finn Valley’s Teresa Doherty, who has shown exceptional form since her return to running after the  birth of her daughter.
Patrick Brennan ran 38.48 in his second 10K inside a week. John McFadden finished in 41.40. Kevin Greenan continued the punishing race schedule he has pursued since April’s Boston Marathon. It was another successful outing for Kevin and he took 1st prize in the M60 category in 44.11.
On Saturday morning,  Martin Gormley had a  victorious return to competition in Ireland after his 2 recent races in France. Martin won the Letterkenny parkrun for the 3rd time. His time of 19.32 was his fastest parkrun time to date. James McBride was 8th overall and 1st in the M60-64 category in a time of 24.16. Young Ronan Burke finished in 31.17 and was 1st in the JM11-14 age group.
8 members of LAC’s highly rated women’s squad showed their versatility at the weekend when they successfully completed the gruelling 555KM of the Donegal  Atlantic Way Ultra Race. The team, cycling under the name ‘Cool Runnings’,  comprised  Irene McFadden, Nakita Burke, Shauna McGeehan, Maria Ni Mhalolagain, Sinead Peoples, Eithne Cox, Serena McDaid and Marian Kerr. They were greatly assisted by Phil Boyle, Naoise Enright and Joe Hunter. The team came in more than 8 hours ahead of schedule.
The winning numbers in the LAC draw on June 22nd were- 4, 9, 15, 22. There were no Match 4 winners and 1 Match 3 winner, Helen Kelly, won €80. The jackpot in the June 29th draw will be an appealing €1980.
                                      Hugh Gallagher.
                                            LAC PRO.


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