Fionnuala Diver had an excellent run in Saturday’s Northern Ireland and Ulster cross country championship in Belfast. She stormed to a 2nd place finish in a very high quality race. She was first in the F35 category. The only runner ahead of Fionnuala was another Diver- Catherine of Beechmount Harriers. Fionnuala’s time was 15.50.
Superb packing by the Letterkenny men ensured that the men’s team picked up gold medals. Anthony Doherty was 8th in 28.51, Raymond Birch 9th in 28.55, Gerard McGranaghan 19th in 29.58 and Ivan Toner 22nd in 30.15. This gave the team 58 points, which was a winning margin of 9 points over Newcastle AC. Sean McFadden provided excellent back up to the scoring 4 and finished in 34th position in a time of 31.20.
Ann-marie McGlynn was a convincing winner in the women’s race in Sunday’s Raheny 5, the well established 5 mile race in Dublin, which is now in its 34th year. Ann-marie crossed the line in an excellent time of 26.44, which saw her finish 44 seconds clear of her closest challenger, Leevale AC’s Michelle Finn.
Marian Kerr was in action in her native Ballyshannon on Saturday. She was the 4th F40 runner in ‘The Streets of Ballyshannon 5K’ in a time of 24.25.
Several Letterkenny AC runners took part in Saturday morning’s Letterkenny parkrun with the club’s Paul Toner coming home in second place in a time of 19.50. Frank Pinder’s time of 23.07 was his best parkrun performance and he was 2nd in the M55 category. Catherine McKinley continued her recent good form. Her time of 23.35 saw her finish 2nd overall and 1st in the F40 age group. Cathal Roarty was the 2nd M50 runner in 24.20 and James McBride was the leading M65 runner in a time of 24.38. Ryan Bradley’s time of 24.41 meant he was the first JM10 runner. Noel Lynch was the 5th M50 runner in 26.00. Frankie Pinder clocked 29.26 and Eileen Pinder 45.23.
The second race in the Lifford Strabane AC 5K series was held in Strabane on Sunday morning. It was a warm, dry but windy morning. Eoghain McGinley’s excellent form continued and he won the race in a very fast time of 15.37. Fellow LAC man, Pauric Breslin, finished 3rd in 16.43. Barry Mackey, now competing in the M55 category, clocked 19.37. Richard Raymond’s good form continued and he came home in 21.41. Noreen McGettigan was just 1 second behind in 21.42. Noel Lynch, 24 hours after running in the Letterkenny parkrun, finished in 22.16. Margaret Shiels’ time was 22.25.
More than 200 runners took part in the 5K. The 3rd and final race in the very well organised series will take place in Lifford on Sunday February 11th.
David Smith had a very good Indoor season opener when he notched up a PB of 2.04.89 for 800m in Athlone on Saturday.
Matthew Johnston’s good run of form continued during the week. He emerged victorious from the Ulster District Schools cross country in Coleraine.
In the Letterkenny AC Lotto draw on January 18th, the winning numbers were 1, 6, 13 and 14. There were no Match 4 winners. 4 Match 2 winners won €20- Niamh McDaid, Adrian Shields, Gerry Meehan and Brian Kelly.
The winning numbers on January 25th were 4, 8, 19 and 22. There were no Match 4 winners. 1 Match 3 winner, Helen Kelly, won €80.
Hugh Gallagher.
Letterkenny AC PRO.
