The cross country season continued on Saturday and yet again, there were superb performances from Letterkenny AC runners.
The very muddy conditions that faced runners in Ballybofey for Saturday’s Ulster Novice XC Championship didn’t deter the club athletes.
The men’s team put in a highly creditable performance to claim silver medals. Rosses AC were the winning team, with Milford AC 3rd. The first LAC runner home was Mark Grennan, who was at the sharp end of the quality field; he was 6th in 22.36. Philip McHugh and John McCallion ran well and finished close together, Philip in 23.41 and John just 5 seconds behind.
Kevin McGee had a fine run and made the scoring team with a time of 24.14. There were also excellent performances from Adam Friel, 24.56, Michael Harkin, 25.20, Dessie Shiels, 27.00 and Ciaran Liddy, 29.59. The first runner home was Sean Melarkey, City of Derry Spartans, in 21.37.
The LAC women’s team also performed well. In-form Eimear Gormley showed again that she is able to transfer her impressive road form to cross country as she finished 4th in 17.54. Next was Marie Boyle finishing with a time of 18.43, then Orlaith Fogarty’s time was 21.02 and Finn Begley was just 11 seconds behind. Niamh Heaney was the winner in 16.51.
Niamh Kelly had an excellent run on Sunday in one of Ireland’s most historic races. She took part in the 130th running of the famous Clonliffe Harriers 2 Mile Race. Niamh, now a Dublin based teacher, finished in 6th place in the women’s race in a time of 11.25. It was a high quality field. Tokyo Olympian, Michelle Finn, (Leevale AC), was the winner. Hiko Tonasa, Dundrum South Dublin, was the overall winner in 8.54.
Several Letterkenny AC runners also made the short journey to Ballybofey to run in Sunday’s Finn Valley AC Remembrance Day 10K. Club Captain, Eoghain McGinley, an astonishingly consistent performer, had another excellent race. He crossed the line in a very fast time of 32.22, which gave him 2nd place. The race winner was Gary Slevin in a time of 31.59.
The next LAC runner was Barry Mackey, who recently ran 2 races in the heat of Dubai. Barry’s time of 40.22 gave him a top 20 finish. Stephen Shiels put in a good performance and clocked 42.05. Gary Kearns performed well and crossed the line in 43.33. Pat Brady had a good run and recorded a time of 43.42.
Marie Boyle was probably Donegal’s busiest athlete of the weekend. Following her cross country outing on Saturday, Marie was in action again and had an excellent time of 43.57.
Naoise Enright clocked 44.22 and Gary Price’s improvement continued and his time of 45.08 was another in the long line of PBs that he has attained in recent months. Paul Sweeney finished in 46.45, Margaret Shiels in 46.48, Bryan Margey in 48.01, Helena Crossan in 52.20 and Maura O’Grady in 55.03.
Letterkenny AC would like to offer congratulations to our neighbours, St Eunan’s GAA Club, with whom we have a good working relationship. They won the Donegal County Gaelic Football Senior Club Championship at the weekend.