City of Derry Spartans AC

Club History

Buncrana 5k

31st May 2010Buncrana 5K Results Amended!

Amended results hereThanks to our sponsor Sean Furey insurances, also Buncrana Leisure Centre and the local Gardaí and all the team at City of Derry who help to make this a fantasic event and put Buncrana on the running map as a top destination.

Go raibh mile maith agat

Eoghan Furey (on behalf of al the Fureys)
00 353 87 9474883

First batch of photos here .from Paddy Murphy of start and at 3.7 km. More excellent photos from Pete Webster here of 1 km mark and finish and presentation. Video of finish to follow. 314 finishers, previous best 180. Well done to all.

Race video here, unfortunately quality isn't great when it is reduced but you get the idea. Thanks to Pete and Cathy for this. Also a clip here of Highland Radio's Shaun Doherty who used the Buncrana 5k as his first event in preparation for a half-marathon. Well done to Shaun and all those whose first event it was. They did great!

Report below from Gerry Lynch

Records All Round at Buncrana 5K
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Records tumbled at Wednesday nights Buncrana 5K,the third in the 2010 Furey Insurances 5K Series as a massive 320 strong field were led home by new course record holders,St Malachys Joe McAllister and Letterkenny,s Maria McCambridge, who posted spanking new figures of 14m 42s and 16m 9s respectively

McAllister only decided to make the trip to the popular Donegal venue late on Tuesday evening,after successfully returnig to competitive action at last Saturdays Ballymena Ecos 5m and he was very surprised to run so fast,shaving two seconds off clubmate Kevin Seaward,s 2007 course record of 14m 44s. Runner up Ciaran Doherty of Letterkenny AC was acknowledged afterwards for his aggressive front running to around the 2K mark,before McAllister took control and went on relentlessly to win by 19secs. Doherty clocked 15m 1sec with another Letterkenny man ,a former triple race winner Pauric McKinney celebrating his 45th birthday,third on 15m 18secs.

Maria McCambridge absolutely smashed the 17m 13s course record,set last year by Finn Valleys Teresa McGloin,storming to a magnificent 16m 9s clocking and like the male winner,pocketed a £100 record bonus.McGloin herself finished second,with an eye catching 16m 35s,delighted to run some 41secs quicker than last year,yet never seriously challanging the winner. North Belfasts Cathy McCourt was third in an impressive 17m 18secs,confirming her recent good form.

The runners were favoured by the wind on their backs for the long straight to halfway and were able to avail of the relatively sheltered second half on the back road to the downhill finish,with the race,s reputation for fast times right down the field confirmed again.

Rankin Top Local--Just!
(What he really means is top Derry mucker! top local was Paddy Mor Doherty(took my record :), that is if you exclude Pauric McKinney (as well always do beacuse he's too good!) who has only been here for over 10 years......just landed in Buncrana terms!) :)Eoghan
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Foyle Valleys Scott Rankin continued his recent good form with fourth spot,just edging City of Derry,s Emmet McGinty on the line,both men given the same time,15m 36s. Letterkenny duo Ivan Toner on 15m 44s and M35 winner,Brian Thursby Pelham on 15m 46s were hot on their heels; City of Derrys M35 Paddy Moore on 15m49s was a close up eight,as the top ten was completed by M40 winner,Joe McKinney and fellow Innishowen man, James Brown on 15m 55s and 16m 1s respectively.

Abbeys Gemma Turley continued her good form at North West oad races with a 17m 57s clocking for fourth female,keeping her in the hunt for the overall series award with Cathy McCourt. Margaret Kelly of Letterkenny was top F35 on 19m, Innishowens Helena Crossan was top F40 with 18m 8s,leading F45 on 20m 18s was City of Derrys Bridgeen Byrne andthe first F50 on 21m 47s was Gloria Donaghy of Finn Valley. At opposite ends of the age group winners were City of Derrys U20 Grainne Neary and F60 Roisin Lynch with respective times of 18m 11s and 25m35s.

The male age group winners were rounded off by,Ciaran McKeown,St Malachys on 16m 22s(U20(; Declan McCarthy City of Derry,16m 34s (M45);Seamus McCallion,Foyle Valley,17m 19s,(M50),Peter Lilburn,City of Derry,17m 55s (M55) and Seamus McElhinney M60 and Condy Doherty M65.

Gerry Lynch 26/5/10

Preview and details of the Buncrana 5k 2010 from Eoghan (excuse the messy writing style!)

• Wednesday 26th May sees the 7th running of the annual Buncrana 5km Road Race and fun run
• The race has consistently been the among the largest summer 5ks in the NW for the last 5 years and attracts a good mix of runners of all abilities from mostly Donegal and Derry but many more from further afield with over 200 expected.
• Race founded and organised by Eoghan and Dara Furey of Buncrana with the help of their club mates in City of Derry Spartans Athletics Club
• Race is generously sponsored by Sean Furey Insurances of Buncrana and Carndonagh who are also the main sponsors of the hugely successful Furey Insurances 5k series which consists of 6 5km Road races held between April and July.
• The 5k Series which is in its 10th year started out in Derry City only but has now become a real cross border affair with 4 races in Derry City and 2 in Inis Eoghain (the other one being the Carndonagh 5k – 30th June which is run as a joint venture between City of Derry AC and Inishowen AC)
• All the main local clubs should have a good presence at the race with the Red vests of City of Derry, the Yellow of Inishowen AC and the purple of Foyle Valley AC having 20+ members toe the line. A sizeable contingent also from the other clubs in the NW, Letterkenny AC, Springwell AC (Coleraine), Finn valley AC and Tir Connell AC.
• 3 times winner of the race, local legend and primary school teacher Pauric McKinney should be back to see if he can still show these youngsters how it’s done and you wouldn’t get good odds betting against him however..
• Former winner Greg Roberts of City of Derry is very much the man to beat at the moment having risen to national prominence recently when winning the prestigious Ballycotton 10 mile road race in a mind blowing 50 mins and 16 ses.
• Last year McKinney just edged out Roberts by 2 secs for the win and if both toe the line a very interesting contest should unfold.
• However their party could be upset by Letterkenny’s Ciaran Doherty or Patrick Brennan with the latter having run 14.56 to win the Interfirms 5k on the 18th May
• The course record of 14min 44 sec will be the target for the top runners but there are rumours of a number of Belfast based athletes making the trip to see if they can pick up the 100 euro bonus for breaking the record which was set by St Malachy’s Kevin Seaward in 2007.
• Apart from McKinney there is realistically very little chance of an Inis Eoghain based winner of the men’s race but the women’s might be a different story…
• Theresa McGloin of Finn Valley is the woman to beat at the moment and has recently dipped under the 17 min mark which is the standard of top class 5k running in the NW and is also the time required to get the women’s 100 euro bonus, current female record is 17.14 set by McGloin in 2009. The evergreen Helena Crossan (Former 2 time winner of the race) of Inis Eoghain AC is still the top female distance runner in the peninsula and should still have too much strength for the new ladies on the scene from City of Derry or Inishowen AC.
• News just in: Letterkenny’s Maria McCambridge won the Interfirms in 16.31! If she makes the trip up to Buncrana she will be very hard to beat!
• The local battle in the men’s race should be between the top 3 from the recent Culdaff 5k, Joe McKinney, Paddy Mór Doherty and James Brown but given the standard of the event a top 5 or 10 finish is where they will likely end up. A better target for them would be the fastest time for an Inis Eoghain man which is currently held by injured race organiser Eoghan Furey at 15mins55secs from 2006 :)- Can you do it lads?
• Local women’s battle should be between Theresa Doherty and Evelyn McGinley of Inishowen AC who should have a tight battle with Jackie McGinley and Marina Campbell of City of Derry. North Belfast’s Cathy McCourt is a former winner of the race and will be a target for all these girls.
• While the up front action is of great interest to athletics fans, over half of the field are made up of non club runners and these are the people that the event is really targeted at. All levels of runners and joggers are welcome take part and the event is only as serious as you make it yourself.
• There is a myth that a 5km event is too fast which is based on the fact the most people can’t stay with the people at the front, however this doesn’t make sense as the same people who complain about the 5k being too fast will go and do a full or half marathon where they are even further away from the front runners!
• For further details, email eoghanfurey@gmail.com or ring 0879474883
• Registration from 6pm on Wed 26th may at Buncrana Leisure Center with the race start at 7.30 sharp, registration will close at 7.20 and given the large numbers expected we advise competitors to come early. Prize giving and refreshments straight after the race in Buncrana Leisure Centre. This year the race will use Championchip electronic timing! Hope it works :)

Eoghan Furey 19th May 2010. Photo of Dara Furey presenting the number 1 to Pauric McKinney here.