More than 400 runners completed the very well organised Donegal Half Marathon on Sunday morning.
From results and round-up for Letterkenny AC below…
Club notes:
First across the line, for the 3rd consecutive year, was Letterkenny Athletic Club’s Ciaran McGonagle, in an excellent time of 1.13.13. Philip McHugh was 7th in a very good time of 1.18.42.
Sean McFadden’s time of 1.22.29 gave him 2nd place in a very competitive M40 category. This was Sean’s 4th race of the week. Patrick Brennan clocked 1.24.11. Monica McGranaghan was the 3rd female runner in 1.29.11.
Liam Ferry clocked 1.32.13, Dessie Shiels 1.32.30 and Mark Nee 1.32.47. Darren Beecroft, who ran 1.33.40, is currently in heavy training for the forthcoming Chicago Marathon, one of the world’s iconic road races.
There were excellent performances from the other LAC runners- Marie Boyle 1.35.43, Aidan McGlynn 1.36.32, Ciaran O’Donnell 1.36.44, John McFadden 1.37.26, Stephen Shiels 1.37.30, Robert Kavanagh 1.37.38, Gary Kearns 1.37.29, Frank Pinder 1.39.05, John Hughes 1.39.56, Martin McGinley 1.43.39, Paul Harris 1.44.52, Paul McMonagle 1.45.08, Gerard Mullen 1.48.35, Noel Lynch 1.48.51, Gary Price 1.50.57 and Lee Gildea 1.54.33.
Kathryn McDevitt and Barry Mackey both had podium finishes at the National Masters’ Track and Field Championship in Tullamore. Sprint specialist, Kathryn McDevitt did the ‘double.’
She won the W35 100m race in 13.35 seconds and then won the 200m in 27.59 secs. Kathryn was, rightly, delighted with her performance and described herself as being “over the moon.”
Barry Mackey also had a good afternoon, competing at the other end of the distance spectrum, the 5000m and 1500m. Barry picked up Bronze in the M55 5000m, a race which featured Tommy Hughes, one of the world’s leading M55 runners.
Barry’s time of 18.50 represented a 5000m track PB of 5 seconds.
Barry almost picked up a 2nd medal in the 1500m but finished 4th. However, he was very pleased with his time of 5mins10secs.
Letterkenny native, and former LAC runner, Mark English, put in an astonishing finish to power to victory in the 800m at the Diamond League in Birmingham on Sunday.
He was 8th until his blistering pace in the final 100m saw him take 1st place in an excellent time of 1.45.94. He outpaced highly rated Jamie Webb, Spencer Thomas and Alfred Kipketer for gold.
Sean McFadden started the week in style with a 3rd place finish in Monday evening’s Doochary 5K. He was 3rd in a time of 19.14. The winner was the ubiquitous Gary Scully, in 16.58.
Amazingly, the Tipperary teacher, on an extended holiday in Donegal, was running his 16th race in 15 days. Not only did Gary win Monday’s race, he also won the events he had done on each of the previous 2 days.
Sean went one better 24 hours later, when he took 2nd place in the Manorcunningham 5K. He had an excellent time of 17.18. The race winner was Oran Gartland, City of Derry Spartans, in 16.22.
Maria McCambridge won the women’s race in 17.26 and Eimear Gormley was 2nd in 20.40. Richard Raymond showed that he has made a good comeback from injury by taking 2nd prize in the M55 category in 22.49.
It was a belated birthday celebration for the big Kerryman, who moved into the M65 age category 2 days earlier. Manor native, Patricia McKenna, finished in 26.14.
Sean McFadden’s busy, and successful, week continued in Ballybofey on Friday evening. He was the 2nd runner home, in 17.22, in the ‘Igloo Run for Sonya 5K.’ Finn Valley AC’s Barry Gallagher was the winner in 17.16.
Young Jack Holian had a fine run in Saturday morning’s Letterkenny Parkrun. His time of 17.30 was his fastest Parkrun time to date and gave him 2nd place.
Fellow teenager, Sean McGinley, was first across the line, in 17.05. Anthony Farren was the leading M50 finisher in 23.51. Dara Dunne was also 1st in her W50 category in a time of 24.25. James McBride was the leading M65 runner in 26.23.
As part of the forthcoming Letterkenny Folk Festival, Letterkenny Athletic Club is organising a road relay race on Sunday August 25th. Athletic clubs, running groups, work colleagues etc will have an opportunity to put teams together. The relay teams comprise 3 runners who run a 1500m leg each. There are junior races and age category teams. The race is chip timed.
Registration is at Charley’s Cafe, Pearse Road. Race 1 (the juvenile race) starts at 10.45am and Race 2 (senior/masters’ race) starts at 11.00am. The entry fee is €25 for adult teams and €15 for juvenile teams.
The start and finish are both below Charley’s Cafe. The route passes the Inver filling station, turns right to Dunnes roundabout, passes the Radisson Hotel, on to MacDonald’s and back into the carpark of Charley’s Cafe for the changeover/finish.
