Finn Valley were very busy last week with their juveniles competing at the Ulster Indoor championships in Antrim on Saturday and then on Sunday their senior and master athletes travelled to Phoenix Park in Dublin to compete in the All Ireland Intermediate and Masters Cross Country Championships. Valley's success rolled on in all categories.

Sunday was a very exciting day for Valley in Phoenix Park as their teams aspirations to retain their Master Men's team title and regain the Intermediate team title materialized.

Intermediate Men

Valley's Jerome Brooks who had his mind made up early this season that his target was to win this title did so in style and became the third Donegal man to triumph in these championships. Jerome's name now goes down in history along with Kevin Gill who was Valley's first ever Intermediate champion in 1986 and Mark Morgan who won the title in 1999. Jerome had great support from his team mates Kevin Holian who finished in an excellent 5th position. Kevin who is having an excellent 2003 season can now hang this team medal proudly beside his all Ireland Novice medal which he won back in December. (Kevin was sponsored by his employer Carr's shop and he would like to acknowledge this help.) Simon Ward who is evolving nicely in the senior ranks and improving all the time finished 13th with John 15th and Conal McBride 65th. Valley won team title easily on 34 points from Rathfarnham on 74 and Clonliffe 77pts. Donegal also won the County team title with Valley Jerome, Kevin, Simon along with Ivan Toner of Rathfarnham (from Letterkenny working in Dublin) in 23rd place and Shane McFadden of Letterkenny in 27th place all scoring on the Donegal team. A great team performance by all.

Masters Men

The men's Masters race was just as exciting as the Intermediate race but Valley's boys were competing to retain their team title from last year and this they did confidently. Valley's lead runner on this occasion was Gweedore man Dominick Bonner who had a brilliant race finishing 2nd overall. Dominick competed in the National Indoors last weekend in Nenagh and also finished 2nd in the 3000m. Dominick was strongly supported by his team mates the evergreen Pat Hegarty who struggled earlier this year with injury but get back when it counts finishing in 4th place. Mark Connolly who has also been struggling with injury got it right this time making the scoring team in 19th spot and Seamus Kerr who made the journey from England worth while in 21st place making up the team to regain the title. Good runs were also had from Pat McEllroy 39th, Bernard McCabe 54, Michael Kelly 130, Pat McCrudden 142, Paddy Bond 144 and Jim Hynes 145 who was 4th in the V 5 category. Valley won the team title on 46 points from Clonliffe 2nd on 76pts and Liffey Valley 110 pts. Donegal were 2nd team with 5 Valley men team scorers Dominick Bonner, Pat Hegarty, Mark Connolly, Pat McElroy along with Gerry McMonagle of Cranford who was in 33rd place.

Masters Ladies

Noeleen Porter was the lead Valley runner in the Ladies section and continued her good season finishing 1st in the over 35 category. Noeleen lead the Donegal team home to victory on 36pts from Mayo 56pts and Dublin 66pts. Nancy McNamee finished 47th with Margaret Murray 50th and Mary Martin 57th.

Summary

A very successful days competition for Valley coming home with 22 championships medals and winning Intermediate and Masters team titles along with Novice team title earlier this season.

The club wish to thank Neil Martin team manager who traveled with the teams. He worked wonders last weekend to get the Valley Ladies to Spain. The club appreciates this work. Also thanks to all supporters too many to mention but their voices did not go unheard.

Ulster Indoor Championships

The Ulster Indoor Championships were held at the Antrim Forum on Saturday last and despite the cold, wet conditions we had a very successful day with 16 Gold Medallists, 13 Silver Medallists and 15 Bronze.

Medallists

The first three individuals and relay teams qualify for the National Indoor Championships in Nenagh.

Jodie Stewart won the under 12 long Jump title with a fine jump of 3.73metres with Niamh Doherty showing her versatility coming from a very successful cross-country season to win Silver medals in both the long jump and 600m and indeed 4th place in the 60m. Matthew Kelly had a great day winning Silver in the Long Jump and Bronze in the 60m. Gavin Carlin was a double Gold Medallist winning the 60m in 8.7 seconds and Long Jump U13 (4.48m) with team-mate Lorcan McMenamin also doing very well winning Bronze in the Long Jump and 60m. Pauric McLaughlin had a very brave run in the 600m winning the silver medal despite sustaining an injury with 100m to go but known for his "gutsy" running held on to the end.

Paul Doherty won his first ever- individual Ulster Title looking very impressive in the 60m Hurdles U14. Shauna Guthrie also winning her first individual Ulster Title taking Gold in the 1000m Walk U14 with team-mate Natasha Duffy winning the Bronze. Breda McGinty, All-Ireland Silver medallist at cross-country showed she could transfer easily from cross-country to track, winning the 800m in style. Shane McCool had an excellent jump in the U14 long jump of 4.13m enough to win the Silver medal. Ryan McDaid won the 800m after a battle with his friend Dan King of Milford, Ryan also won the Bronze in the 60m Hurdles. Laura Friel jumped very well in the high jump where the conditions made life very difficult for most athletes winning silver with a new personal best of 1.30m.

Diarmuid Fullerton, individual medallist at cross-country, was another athlete who showed he could perform very well in track and field. Diarmuid won the High jump U15 with 1.35m, Bronze in the shot with 8.63m and 4th in the 800m. Kieran O'Grady's hard work over the winter season paid off winning the silver medal in the shot putt 10.08m. Maeve Culhane won the Silver in the 1000m Walk whilst team-mate Charlene Kelly suffering from the 91flu' was unfortunate not to qualify in 4th place.

Frances Galbraith also made light of the bad conditions in the High Jump U16 with a p.b. of 1.45m winning the Gold. Frances then went on to win silver in the Long Jump with 4.03m. Nikki Alcorn, current All-Ireland Indoor Champion, easily retained her Ulster title in the U16 1500m Walk. Stefan Connolly had a very impressive run in the 800m with a new p.b. of 2 minutes 15 seconds clipping a second of his p.b. from the same Championships a year ago. Maurice Boyle also ran very well in this race winning the Bronze in a time of 2 minutes 17 seconds. Ross Wherity also looked good winning the Silver in the 60m Hurdles with team-mate Mark McGowan winning the Bronze. Brendan Culhane won the Bronze in the Shot Putt with 8.51m. Emma O'Neill showed her great leg speed winning bronze in both the 60m and 200m. Packie Mailey showing great speed in the 200m also winning Bronze. Alan Cavanagh was unlucky not to qualify in the 1500m finishing 4th.

The U17 boys were badly hit with flu victims and injury with Pauric Feely unlucky to finish 4th in the long jump, Joe McGinley 4th in both the 60m and 200m and Matthew Larkin having to pull up in the hurdles. Seamus McMenamin showed he has great potential over the hurdles winning the Bronze in the 60m event. Geraldine Kelly just missed out on qualifying for the Nationals in 4th place.

Mark McGlinchey in his first competition for the club did very well in the U18 60m and long jump just failing to qualify in 4th place.

Kevin Feely, National Indoor Champion U18, won the U19 Shot Putt by over 2 metres with a putt of 12.86m a new p.b. for the 6 kg. Shot.

The relays as usual brought the Championships to an exciting end with Finn Valley qualifying in seven, winning Gold in U13 Boys via Gavin Carlin, Christopher O'Leary, Matthew Morris and Karl Bradley. The U16 boys also won Gold with great runs by Stefan Connolly, Packie Mailey, Mark McGowan and Maurice Boyle. The U17 Boys who are the All-Ireland Champions in the 4 x 100m Relay showed they had no problems winning the Ulster Title in the 4 x 200m despite illness and injury hitting three of the squad. The Gold Medal winning team was Joe McGinley, Matthew Larkin, Seamus McMenamin and Pauric Feely.

Silver Medals went to the U12 boys with Gerry Boyle, Matthew Kelly, Andrew Gallagher and James McCafferty all having good runs. Silver also to the U14 Boys with Shane Bonner, Shane McCool, Paul Doherty and Ryan McDaid. The U14 Girls also won silver with Breda McGinty, Shauna Gurthrie, Ciara Gallen and Bronagh O'Doherty.

Bronze medals went to the U13 girls with Eilish Patton, Christine O'Neill, Aoife Whelan and Siobhan Gallager. The U12 Girls were just pipped for 3rd with Jodie Stewart, Niamh Doherty, Iona Hennessey and Stephanie Connolly as were the U15 girls team of Maeve Culhane, Lindsey Stewart, Bronagh Sweeney and Paula Gallagher.

The club wishes to thank all the coaches and parents who helped look after the athletes: Christine Feely, Ann Gallagher, Maureen Doherty, Sean Carlin, Brendan Patton, Seamus McGranaghan and Richard Alcorn. The athletes and coaches will now be busy preparing for the Scottish Indoor Championships which will be held on the 1st and 2nd of March in Glasgow and for the National Indoor Championships in Nenagh which will be held over two weekendd: 22nd /23rd March and 5th/6th April.

Congratulations to all the club athletes who qualified on Wednesday last for the Ulster Schools Finals in Mallusk: Maurice Boyle, Ryan McDaid, Alan Cavanagh, Stefan Connolly, Diarmuid Fullerton and Nikki Alcorn.

News from Abroad

Joe Byrne ran a 3000m race last week and won it in a time of 8.35 conditions were freezing but Joe is happy to be getting faster all the time as her prepares for the National Senior cross-country championships. Good to see the Valley colors winning abroad.

GAA Forum

A very successful GAA forum took place in the Valley center last Saturday. Patsy McGonagle was among the speakers at the event.

Next Week

Senior Indoor championships takes place next weekend. This is a historic event as it is the first time that the race will incorporates the Northern Ireland Indoor Championships. The venue for the race is the Odyssey Arena (state of the art purpose built athletics stadium). A number of Valley athletes will be competing. Catriona McGranaghan, Jeff and Ivonne Cassin, James Gibbons, Bosco Reid and Anne McGill. Finn Valley are organising a bus for spectators to travel on Sunday. Please add your name to the list on the notice board if you wish to travel.