Letterkenny AC: LAC members travel to Belfast for Seeley Cup 10K

The journey proved very worthwhile. The dynamic duo of Nakita Burke and Caitriona Jennings enjoyed major success in last Sunday’s National Cross Country Championship in Dublin.

Just six days later, they produced another display of top-class running, this time on the road. Nakita enjoyed a triple success. She won the women’s race, which featured a top class field and she notched up another PB, of 34.52, to add to the plethora of PB’s that she has run in 2018.

Thirdly, she led the LAC team to 3rd place in the team event. Caitriona Jennings also had a superb run and her time of 35.41 gave her 3rd place. She was the club’s 2nd counter. The team’s 3rd counter was Marie Boyle, who had a fine run and finished in 42.25.

The three LAC women accumulated  41 points, which was a mere 2 points adrift of 2nd place team, Beechmount Harriers.

The first Letterkenny AC runner across the line was Danny Mooney, whose time was 32.15. Next was club captain, Raymond Birch, whose good form continued with a time of 34.03. Paul McFadden recently won the award, at the LAC Awards, of ‘Most Improved Runner’.

He justified his accolade again, with an excellent time of 34.10. Ivan Toner was just behind and crossed the line in 34.14. Ciaran McGonigle was another sub 35 minute LAC finisher, finishing in 34.35.

Aidan McKenna had a fine sub 40 performance of 39.32. Mark Nee followed a conscientious programme of training for the Dublin Marathon, which is now paying dividends at shorter distances.

He achieved a PB of 40.49. John Hughes clocked 41.05, Peter Hamilton 42.05, Stephen Shiels 42.19 and  Gary Kearns 45.37. The race winner was Ben Branagh, of St Malachy’s AC, whose time was 30.28.

The action on  Sunday moved closer to home and to the annual, popular LAC  5K Turkey Trot. In this unique event, the Christmas dinners are not necessarily won by the fastest runners but those who can most accurately predict their finishing times.

There were 12 turkeys. LAC athlete, James McBride, got his time exactly right. He predicted 24.09 and then ran 24.09.  No other runners were as accurate. However, just one second outside their predictions were Sean Lorinyenko, Paul Cosgrove and Patrick Trimble.

Two seconds away were Brendan Delap, Garvan Mulligan and Jimmy Kennedy. Niamh McDaid and Mary Bonner won turkeys for being three seconds away from their predicted times. The 12 winners were completed by Darren Price, Michael Black and Gerard McConnell, who were within four seconds of their predictions.

Danny Mooney was the fastest runner, in 16.45.

The club is grateful to Marks and Spencer, generous sponsor of the event. The race was also organised in conjunction with ‘We Care Food Bank LK.’ Thanks are also due to Diver’s Hyundai, for the generous use of their premises. The club would also like to thank a large number of volunteers, whose valuable help made sure the event was a success.

In Saturday morning’s Letterkenny Parkrun, the first LAC runner home was Paul Lee. Paul’s time of 21.38 gave him 5th place overall and 2nd place in the M50 category. Paul is rapidly heading for the Half Century mark and has now completed 44 Parkruns.

Mark McFadden clocked 22.23 and young Ryan Bradley’s time of 23.16 gave him first place in the JM11-14 category. Noel Lynch was the 3rd M50 runner in 23.33 and Patricia McKenna was the 2nd woman, and leading VW 45 in 25.09, just two seconds slower than her best ever Parkrun. Aaron Nepgen was the winner in 19.49. It was his 4th win in the last five weeks.

Letterkenny Athletic Club wishes to extend our deepest sympathy to club member, Martin Donnelly and his family, following the death of his father, Brian.