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12th
March 2011
Local Juveniles Shine At Glasgow and Magherafelt Indoor Championship
A series of quality Indoor Championship performances from
Juvenile athletes in Glasgow and Magherafelt grabbed the local
headlines over the weekend,as around twenty Scottish and Ulster
under age medals were brought Foyleside,all bar one won by
City of Derry Spartans athletes. Olympians Olivia Webb won
U15 bronze at 1500 metres in Magherafelt, the Spartans notched
up a bakers dozen at the County Derry venue and for good measure
returned from the Scottish Juvenile Championships in Glasgows
Kelvin Hall with an impressive half dozen more.
Paddy Doherty ran very well for third place in the Albertville
5 mile road race in Belfast and Sammy McAnaney won the M55
category.Christy McMonagle enjoyed a profitible weekend taking
the M65 top spots at Saturdays inaugral Cara-Bundoran 10 miler
and adding age group honours on Sunday at the Finn Valley
5K as Derry athletes from U 12,s to over 65,s showcased their
talents.
Glasgow saw some quality performances from the travelling
City Of Derry squad with a brace of Scottish championship
medals from Mark McGarvey and Anna Barr plus a medal each
from Claire Dougherty and Ryan McParland. McGarvey won the
U17 Long Jump with a 6m 42cm new PB and picked up a 60m Hurdles
bronze as well as taking sixth in the 200m in a very busy
day in Glasgow to show he is in fine shape for the upcoming
outdoor season.
Anna Barr too looked good, setting a PB to lift 300m bronze
and despite below her Triple Jump seasons best of 10m 60cm
a few weeeks ago in Belfast,added another in the demanding
field event. Ryan McParland was another PB man,clocking a
swift 7.19secs for U17 200m silver and he too will be itching
to get into the outdoor action. High Jumper Claire Dougherty
was the other local medallist clearing 1m 60cm for U17 bronze
as she showed once again her ability to perform on the big
stage.
Meanwhile at Magherafelt Hannah McGowan in the U18 800m, Shane
McGowan and Sean Harkin in the U17 and U18 1500metres all
took gold with impressive runs at the Ulster Indoors second
round championships. Hannah also claimed 300m silver and silvers
were also won by Amy McDaid,U19 800m;Rebecca McLaughlin,U19
400m; Scott Graydon,U18 60m Hurdles and in the U12 Shot Putt
by Harry O Neill.
The Spartans other medallists were Aoife McDaid third in the
U13 60m Hurdles; and at U18 level, Dale Kelly in the 1500m,Connor
Doherty at 800m, Caolan Coyle in the Shot and in the Triple
Jump,Michael Doherty. Add in the U17 1500m bronze from Olivia
Webb of Olympian and this certainly was a terrific haul for
the talented young locals.
Back to the weekend road racing and Paddy Dohertys impressive
26m 2secs third place finish at the Albertville 5 miiler on
Saturday was a big run from a rapidly improving athlete. North
Belfast Harrier Alan O Hara won in 25m24s with North Down
man Alex Donald the runner up on 25m 49s and the Spartan was
delighted with his effort for a podium place. Sammy Mc Ananey
ran just ove 28m for an emphatic M55 age group win.
Paddy Hamilton of Annadle Striders clocked a tasty 50m 18s
to easily win the inaugral Cara-Bundoran 10 miler on Saturday.
Over 400 started in this one,Letterkennys Patrick Brennan
was second on 52m56s and from the deep South,it was Ferbane
AC,s Paul Buckley who took third with 54m 14s.Breege Connolly
of North Belfast ran 59m 23s for the womens prize ahead of
Tirconail,s Fiona Stack on 64m26s and Sligo,s Roseanne Mitchell
with 64m 40s in third.
Christy McMonagle showed he still has the legs for the road
with a 67m 46s run to top the M65 rankings and finish an excellent
55th overall in the big field.Less than 24 hours later he
turned out in the second of the FinnValley 5K Series races
and once again claimed the age group award.Rumour has it he
headed off to an expensive Spa in Killarney yesterday for
some rest and relaxation...would you blame him??
More Road and Cross Country
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This weekend brings more competitive action with the Irish
Schools Cross country championships in Dublin on Saturday
with ST Columbs and Thornhill both having an interest and
also on Saturday, Gransha hosts the Paddys Weekend 5K road
race at 11am. This one kicks off the Derry area road race
season and will as usual attract a healthy turn out. There
is a supporting 1K Fun Run which starts at 10 30am and entries
for both will be accepted at Gransha from 9 45am.
the Irish Schools cross country has been moved from the origional
ALSAA grounds to the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown
as the North Dublin venue ,close to the Airport, was badly
waterlogged recently. This should help the competitors significantly
as there is a total of ten races on the extensive programme--eight
Schools events and two Irish Universites championship races.
The St Columbs pair Shane McGowan and Sean Harkin who go in
the Junior and Intermediate races and Thornhills Aoife Laverty
should be the most prominent of the locals in the chase for
championship medals.
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