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24th June 2011 Tailteann Games In Dublin.....Carndonagh 5K in Donegal

On Wednesday evening 29th its back to Inishowen for race 5 in the Furey Insurances series with the Carndonagh 5K set to pull yet another massive turnout. Race HQ will once again be the Carndonagh Community School and entries will be taken there from 6pm for this one. The Carn race is sponsered by Atlanfish and is the penultimate race in the Furey series, the final event is on Wednesdt 20th July on the Baliniska circuit with race HQ at the nearby Templemore Sports Complex.

The Furey series has produced four different male winners so far. Paddy Hamilton won convincingly on the Bay Road back in April; Scott Rankin kept the honours at home with a strong run to win at Lisnagelvin; Ciaron Doherty won in Buncrana for Letterkenny and Emmet McGinty took the honours at Culmore earlier this month. Carndonagh is wide open and should be another exciting chapter in the unfolding Furey series story as club runners vie with joggers for fast times and big performances.

Race 13 in the Donegal Athletic Board,s summer road race series will bring the roadshow to Aghyaran Co.Tyrone tonight and another big turnout is expected for the 7 30pm start. The action moves to Churchill in Letterkenny on Sunday afternoon for the Gartan 5 mile race which has a 3pm start while its the Raphoe 5K on Tuesday night 28th,with the usual 7 30pm start time.

Local Talent At Tailteann Games Tomorrow
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Nine very talented local juvenile athletes will be in Dublin tomorrow for the annual Tailteann Games where they will wear the Ulster vest in this Inter Provincial competition. Anna Barr and Andrew Bolster will in fact captain the Ulster squads and will have their City Of Derry Spartans clubmates, Ciara Armstrong,Claire Dougherty, Lisa Dobbins, Amy Jackson , Roisin Laverty, Mark McGarvey and Ryan McParland alongside them in this top class under age competition at the Santry stadium.

Staying with track and field the second leg of the Donegal Open championships will be staged in Letterkenny on Tuesday evening next and this Sunday ,Tullamore hosts the National U20 and U23 championships.

Moving to the National League and Santry has been confirmed as the second round venue for local clubs City of Derry and Olympian,on Sunday 17th July next. The latter have their mens squad chasing a top eight overall finish to qualify for the Division 1 final in August. The Spartans womens squad maenwhlie are also gunning for a place in their Division 1 final and are handily placed in fourth going into yhe second round match.

In sharp contrast the male Spartans lie one place off the bottom in the Premier Division and have a big task to garner the necessary points to avoid relegation after a understrength team struggled in the rain and wind of Sligo two weeks ago.However some of those who missed the Sligo match may be back for next month and if they need motivated then Crusaders,the Dublin club immediately above them in the league table have been drawn against them in the Santry match. Star sprinter Jason Smyth may be a welcome addition to the Spartans squad and indeed may welcome a shot at Crusaders top man Stephen Colvert who has been in pretty good 100m form of late!