Valley's Joe Byrne makes NCAA C-C finals

The Finn Valley report has an international flavour this week as a late night phone call on Sunday brought the good news that Joe Byrne, a student at Illinois, qualified for the NCAA Cross-Country finals this weekend at Indiana University.

Joe was one of only two Irish athletes to quality, the other being Martin Fagan who is already selected for the Irish team for the European Cross-Country Championships next month. We wish Joe all the best and look forward to seeing him on Boxing Day 5k.

In Dublin at Santry four club athletes competed for Ireland Masters, the best return being from Noleen Porter who placed second overall in her category on the winning team beating England into second.

Noeleen was joined by Cranford athlete Bridie Trearty. Well done to both.

James McMahon with a top 20 finish was also on the winning team after a slow start as was Dominic Bonner. Pat Hegarty finished in 31st. The club are proud of these athletes.

The club hosted the north-west squad get-together on Sunday and are most appreciative of Eamon Harvey's continued efforts in this regard.

A small number of our athletes have a problem getting out of bed early on a Sunday morning, something which reflects poorly on them personally.

Sportshall in Ramelton this Sunday for the younger set, details to be announced at training.

On a different note its encouraging to see so many youth and senior athletes accepting the invitation to train in the Algarve February 9th-16th which is the school mid-term break period.

In addition Eamon Harvey is leading a training group to the Algarve post christmas. The educational aspect of this alone would be pro-active for athletes even in itself.

There is a child protection workshop in the LYIT shortly, details at the club for those interested.

Newsletters by Niall McGonagle, Club P.R.O.