Letterkenny Athletic Club Notes



Letterkenny Athletic Club’s Caitriona Jennings became a National Champion on Sunday. She won gold in the National Half Marathon Championship in Dublin; the race was subsumed within the Rock n Roll Half Marathon. Caitriona crossed the line in an excellent time of 1.22.25. This left her 29 seconds clear of her closest challenger. Andrea Kiloran also had a fine run and finished in 2.03.44.

Teenage Letterkenny AC  runner, Eoin Hughes,  had a superb run in Wednesday evening’s ‘Jog in the Bog’ in Derry. Eoin claimed 2nd place, in the 342 strong field,  with a time of 16.26 for the 5K.  The race winner was Foyle Valley’s Roy McGilloway in 16.18.

New LAC  recruit, Conor Brennan, was a top 10 finisher and the first LAC runner home in Friday’s Ballyare 10K. Conor’s time was 36.52. Sean McFadden recorded a good time in his ‘farewell to Donegal’ race. He ran 37.26; Sean, Irene and Ruairi and David, their sons, leave this week for a new life in Dubai. The best wishes of all at Letterkenny Athletic Club go to the McFadden family, who have made a huge contribution to the club over the years.

Shauna McGeehan’s time of 40.12 gave her first place in the women’s race. Kieran Coyle was the 2nd M45 runner in 40.51. Mark Nee clocked 41.01 and Liam Ferry 42.52. Marie Boyle was the leading F35 runner in 43.12. Stephen Shiels finished in 43.17 and Paul Lee in 43.49. Gerard Gallagher, Finn Valley AC, won the race in 34.27.

John Hughes undertook the gruelling Trust Ford Slieve Croob 10K Challenge on Saturday morning. The event, in John’s home County of Down, involved a 5K climb of over 1000 feet up the mountain, turning at the peak then taking on the treacherous downward stretch. John’s time was 51.09.

Adrian Callaghan had an excellent run on Saturday evening in one of the country’s iconic road races, the ‘Streets of Galway 8K.’ Adrian finished in 34.21. That time gave him  233rd place out of the 2527 finishers, which meant he was comfortably inside the top 10%. John Travers, the Sligo based Donore Harrier, followed up last week’s Streets of Sligo victory with another win. His time was 23.56. Amazingly, Travers then followed that up with a victory just over 12 hours later in the tough Knocknarea 8 Mile Mountain Loop in Sligo.

Young Alex Plumb had a good run in Saturday’s Letterkenny parkrun. Alex’s time for the 5K was 22.49, which gave him a top 10 finish overall and 1st place in his category, JM11-14. First across the line was Cian Friel in 21.03.

Teresa McDaid has been in Berlin all week, as Operational Team Manager with the Irish team at the European Track and Field Championships. There were several highlights for Teresa and the team. The main one was Waterford man Thomas Barr’s medal success in the 400m Hurdles. The mens’ Marathon team also performed admirably and were the 6th team.  Teresa puts in trojan work with LAC athletes of all ages and abilities and the experience and expertise gained by her in the past week will be of benefit to all club athletes.

Hugh Gallagher.

Letterkenny AC PRO.

 



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