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2nd
Jan 2012
Bradley Blasts To Greencastle 5 Victory
The two North West St Stephens Day road races
in Stranorlar and Greencastle Co Tyrone ,between them saw
over 1500 finishers and local athletes were prominent at the
sharp end in both. The in form Connor Bradley added the Greencastle
5 mile individual title to his growing competitive CV, striding
home ahead of former winner Stephen Duncan of Omagh Harriers
and Spartans team mate Greg Roberts, after an absorbing duel
on the testing Greencastle course. This trio were the class
acts in the large field and finished comfortably clear of
the chasing pack including an excellent seventh place finish
for the teenage Spartan JP Williamson.
Meanwhile Danny Mooney of Letterkenny AC
and Dublin based Letterkenny native Catriona Jennings , topped
the equally big Finn Valley 5K field with Aileen Morrison
making a welcome return to competitive action in third place
in the womens race as the promoting clubs Teresa McGloin grabbed
the runners up spot behind the dominant Jennings.
Back to Greencastle and in windy conditions, Connor Bradley
was a very impressive winner of the popular Tyrone seasonal
tester. The Spartan was a somewhat surprise starter on Monday,
given his back to back efforts at the National Novice and
NW cross country events on the preceeding weekends and his
committment to the upcoming Indoor track season. Fears that
he would be vunerable on the challanging Greencastle course
were emphatically answered as he ran the perfect race, staying
with his main opposition and then running clear for a winning
25m 36s clocking, three seconds ahead of Duncan with Greg
Roberts a further ten seconds in arrears in third.
The top three were always prominent and Roberts had a significant
44 seconds advantage over fourth placed Shane Kerr of Armagh
AC who led home the chasing bunch. In there was JP Williamson
who also showed well after two previous weekend outings for
a 27m 10s clocking for seventh spot on the tough course. A
good outing for the top three red vests and they were supported
by M45 Bill Duncan, 41st with 31m 56s and M40 Gary McGee 52nd
with 32m 55s.
Letterkennys Maria McCambridge clocked 29m 21s to eke out
a narrow six second victory over North Belfasts Gladys Ganiel
with Sheffield Running Club visitor Rachel Kane well off the
pace in 32m 30s for third. There were a total of 725 recorded
finishers at the event, not bad at all for a Festive 5K in
the hilly Tyrone venue.
Danny Mooney meantime ran 15m 41s to see off Finn Valleys
Pauric McLaughlin and Michael Black of Letterkenny who clocked
16m 22s and 16m 35s respectively at the Finn Valley 5K. Catriona
Jennings was in flying form, clocking an impressive 16m 48s
for a comprehensive womens race victory, well ahead of Teresa
McGloin on 18m 22s and Aileen Morrisons 18m 35s.. The Spartan
is getting back to full fitness following her magnificent
2011 Triathlon exploits and hopefully she will be available
and fired up to lead the female Spartans as they defend their
NI/Ulster Senior womens cross country team title in Antrim
on January 21st next.
Upcoming Action
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Upcoming race action will focus on the NI/Ulster Junior and
Masters cross country championships in Monaghan on Saturday
week January 7th and both City of Derry and Foyle Valley will
be chasing honours there. However before that there is the
Lough 5 mile road race tomorrow Saturday January 31st at Loughmacrory
in Tyrone. This is another in the Run West series and has
a 12noon start. Next day January 2nd its the annual Race over
the Glens at Glenariff Forest Park with another 12 noon start
time.
Mention also of the third and final race in the local Primary
Schools cross country League which is set for Friday January
20th at the Sports Complex. The qualifers for the NI Finals
at Mallusk in mid February will be decided at this meeting
with the best three Boys and Girls schools teams plus the
best five individuals, outside the top team members, going
through to the NI race offs.
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