THE Annual Ulster Athletics Star Awards presentation night will be held in the Bay View Hotel Killybegs on Friday night, November 15th.
When the Awards were set up in 2005 the Bay View Hotel was the main sponsor and Killybegs was the venue for the presentation up until 2011. Since then the Awards night has been held in Monaghan but this year they have come home.
In November each year the Ulster Athletic Council presents awards to four athletes from each of the nine counties based on their achievements in the Ulster Championships during the year.
This year the Donegal recipients are Riona Doherty from Ballybofey, and Eoin Boyle from Portnoo in the Under 16 category and Cassie Lagan from Finn Valley and Chris Kearns from Carrick in the over 16 category. E
ach of these were high achievers in the All Ireland championships as well as in the Ulster Championships.
The Hall of Fame Award this year goes to Eamon Giles from Cranford.
Eamon set up Donegal’s first athletic club in Cranford in 1961 and has been ever present in the Donegal and Ulster scene ever since.
The Cranford club attracted athletes from all over the county and within eight years three Cranford athletes Paddy Marley, Hugo Duggan and Danny McDaid were representing Ireland at senior level.
As well as his work as a coach and motivator he was a very accomplished sprinter and was Ulster Senior 100m and 200m champion on seven occasions.
He is still the joint Ulster Record holder for 100m having run the distance in 11 seconds at the Ulster Championships in Newry in 1967.
The other joint holders are Paul Dolan from Ballyshannon, who set the time in the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, and Hugo Duggan who set the time at the Ulster Decathlon Championships in Belfast in 1969.
Eamon is a founder member of Donegal County Board, a Life Vice President of both Athletics Ireland and Donegal County Board was selected as a member of the Donegal Athletics Team of the Millennium and is a worthy recipient of the highest recognition that Ulster Athletics can bestow on an athlete.
Previous inductees into the Ulster Hall of Fame are Maeve Kyle, Ballymena; Cathriona McKiernan from Cavan; Danny McDaid, Glenswilly; Vera Sherry in Monaghan; Derek Graham from Belfast; Bernie O’Callaghan from Killybegs; Hugo Duggan from Milford and Patsy McGonagle from Ballybofey.
The ceremony begins at 7.30 and tickets may be purchased on the door.
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