Main pic: Rosses AC Masters ladies team who were crowned county champions at the Donegal Masters Cross Country Championships.
The Cross Country season opened with the Champion’s Cup hosted by Finn Valley AC at the weekend.
There were great numbers in all races from the Rosses AC and some strong performances, with many individual podium finishes as well as team medals. Well done to all the athletes, parents and special note to the coaches who continue to volunteer their time.
Donegal Masters XC
The Donegal Masters Championships were also held with the ladies race first up. Helen McCready had a great battle with Leoni Cooke from Finn Valley and it came down to the last lap on the final lap with Helen digging really deep to claim a well-deserved masters champions title. Bernie Boyle and Fionnuala Diver worked for the team finishing 4th and 5th. Coach Sarah Mulholland finished 9th and silver in the F50 individual category. Nicole O’Donnell debut at XC showed her to be versatile, finishing 10th. Donna Boyle Gillespie, Michelle Ferguson, Lorraine Doherty and Angela Trimble rounding out the team with solid opening runs. With 1st, 4th, 5th and 10th place finishes, Rosses ladies secured Team Gold in O35s. The men were unable to travel and ended up a sole male Rosses athlete run by Michael Logue to claim an O50 silver medal. Next up for Cross Country is the Senior and Master Relays XC on 22nd of September.
The talented Rosses AC U10 girls team of Isa Bonner, Katie Sharkey, Else Gillespie, Sarah Minnock and Lucy Brennan.
On Sunday also the National half Marathon championships were held in Charleville in Cork and Martina Mulhern decided to take the trip and test herself against some of the country’s best. And she did herself and the club proud with a very strong time of 1:32:56 to finish 12th in a highly competitive F40 category.
Last week locally, the Charles McGuinness 5k was held in Glenties with Declan Ferry winning in 15:38. David McKelvey took 3rd in 16:33, Mark Ward 16:54 in 4th, Declan Gallagher M40 Category winner in 17:34, Paul McKelvey 2nd M40 in 17:52, Noel O Donnell 19:01, Conor Boyle 19:26, Eugene McCafferty 20:07, Denis Boner 20:17, Eoin Boyle and Adrian Bonner 20:55 with Adrian taking 2nd place M50 finish. In the ladies Helen McCready running 17:45, Kevea Gallagher 4th in 19:44 and Leah Ward 5th in 20:01, Emily Bonner 22:27, Bridget Molloy 23:15, Rachel Harper 24:14 and Angela Trimble broke the 30 mins with a good time of 29:50.