Club Notes from Rosses AC
Last weekend it was the turn of the Master athletes as the All Ireland Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships took place in Athlone.
Pride of place goes to Aidan Gillespie who won the Men 50-55 category 60 Hurdles to become All Ireland Champion and in doing so set a new Irish record for this category with a super run of 9.44 seconds.
All the winter training has paid off – well done Aidan from all at the club.
It was double Silver for middle distance specialist Helen McCready ran an excellent 10:36 to get up to take 2 place and a silver medal in the 40-45 age category 3000m.
Not content with one race or medal she then took to the track again in the 1500m and again repeated another silver medal performance. Super stuff. Helen continues to show her range of abilities from marathon to shorter distances.
Over the winter her training has been incorporated to helping coach underage athletes in the club and today result will be a good example for the juveniles.
Double silver all Ireland medals for Helen McCready in the 3k and 1500m events
In the field events there was also a podium finish for newcomer to the club Luke Mangan in the Shot Putt as he finished a strong 2nd place in a very competitive men’s 35-39 category.
Luke has recently joined as he is a teacher up at the Rosses Community School and his strong athletics background and experience showed.
Adventure Racing got started at the weekend with the first event in the national series being the Quest adventure Race Kenmare.
Adventure race specialist David McKelvey delivered in the longer gruelling expert course finishing a brilliant second place.
In the sport race Noel O Donnell finished in a great 15th place with Adrian Bonner finishing in a super 20th overall and taking the M50 crown.
On Saturday last a number of athletes made the journey for the Walled City 10 miler in Derry.
First Rosses athlete back in 8th place was Shane O Donnell in 56:31 and 2nd M35 with Charlie O Donnell was not far behind in a time of 56:56 for 10th overall and 1st M45.
Mark Ward made the top 20 and broke the hour in a nice time of 59:48. Paul McKelvey finishing 30th in 1:01:22.
Fergal McGee in 1:05:31 and Declan Gallagher in 1:05:35. James McGeehan ran 1:07:47 with Brendan McBride 3rd in the M60 in 1:11:41. In the ladies section Cathy Breslin ran a solid 1:18:13, Emer Magee 1:25:42, Shauna McGinley 1:28:21 and Veronica McLoone 1:45:31. Well done to all on a busy weekend on many fronts for the club.
Rosses athletes delighted with their performances at the Derry 10 Mile race.
