Last weekend Valley's juveniles traveled to ALSAA in Dublin to compete in the All Ireland B Cross Country Championships and All Ireland Relay U11 and U13 Championships. Finn Valley had a very successful day at these championships.

The first race of the day was the girls U10 competition. Valley's girls coached by Christine Feely had a great battle and earned their reward by winner the team title. Their lead runner was Clara Dunnion 8^th who also got an individual medal for finishing in the top ten finishers. Clara was followed by Jodie Stewart 11^th Eilish Patton 15^th and Catherine Gallagher 19^th making up the winning team. This team was well supported by Ciara Devenney, Aoife Whelan, Siobhan Gallagher and Christine O Neill.

In the boys U10 Finn Valley's Owen grant won his first All Ireland medal scoring on the winning Donegal team.

In the U12 boys Kevin Gallagher was Valley's only runner finishing 14^th and was part of the Donegal County Team.

In U14 girls Aine McLaughlin and Nicola Connolly ran very well and were also part of the Donegal team.

In U16 girls Valley had strong runs from Levina Merritt, Kate and Sarah Byrne, and Mary Connolly who finished 2^nd or 3^rd club and also were part of the Donegal team which also won medals

In U18 boys Barry McGill finished 2^nd counter for Donegal team which won team title and also got an individual medal for top ten finisher.

The relay competition was an All Ireland Championship competition 4x 500m Finn Valley U11 boys continued their success from All Ireland Club Cross Country Champions having a fantastic victory despite the race been interrupted. However this did not effect the talented Ryan McDaid to hand over the lead to Ian Ward for the second time. Ian had a traffic run extending the lead to Locan McMenamin who despite being a year out of his age group fought bravely to hold onto the lead position and handed over to Shane Bonner who ran brilliantly to take the gold medal 30m clear.

In the U11 girls Finn Valley Breda McGinty and Natasha Duffy had to cry off the Donegal team due to injury and illness. Shaun Guthrie and Denise stepped into the County team with two Cranford girls. All ran very well to take 5^th position.

Finn Valley had an A and B team in the U13 boys. Valley's A team was Declan Hennessy, Bernard Burns, Aidan Connolly and Maurice Boyle who finished 5^th over all. Valley's B team finished 6^th with Packie Mailey, Enda Doherty, Brian Patton and Paul McGrath.

In the U13 girls Maeve Culhane, Brona Sweeney, Aisling Rushe and Nicola Alcorn all ran very strongly to take 6^th position.

This was a very worth while excise for the club was a great experience for all athletes involved. The club wish to thank team managers Patsy McGonagle, Bernie Alcorn, Christine Feely, Peadar McGranaghan and Patsy Doherty. Also to all the parents for their support.

In Sporthall Athletics Paul Doherty and Kevin Gallagher were part of the Donegal team which won in Enniskillen on Saturday. Well done to all involved.

Also last Saturday Finn Valley veteran's traveled to Newtownabbey Cross Country Race. Pat McElroy finished 2^nd Veteran while his wife Maeve finished 4^th overall in the senior ladies and took first spot in O35. Mary Murray continues her good form finishing 10^th overall and 1^st over 45 followed closely by Mary Martin who was 3^rd O45 and Mary Bond was 17^th overall. Well done to all.

Next weekend Finn Valley's U13 and U15 Juveniles travel to Glasgow to compete in the Scottish Juvenile Championships. A total of 23 athletes will be traveling. The bus leaves FV at 9am on Saturday morning. Team managers are Richard and Bernie Alcorn, Bridget Boyle and Liam O Neill.

Their are a brilliant response from parents and supporters to the sale of tickets for the presentation dance to Patsy McGonagle Donegal Person of the Year. If anyone is interested and have not asked for tickets please contact Neil Martin at the club as soon as possible.

The club wish to congratulate former club members Danea and Jim Herron on receiving their award from the Derry and District Sports Award. Jim is former Finn Valley coach, captain, treasurer, and trustee. While Danea is former national senior combined champion on two occasions while with FV. While living in Stranorlar both were very loyal to the club. They now live in Derry and still keep in touch with the goings on of Finn Valley.

A coaches meeting will take place at Finn Valley on Thursday night at 8.45pm. This is to organize training and coaching. It is hoped that all coaches will attend this meeting.

Training continues every Tuesday and Thursday night at 7.30pm and Sunday morning at 10.30am