Valley's Ivonne wins Bronze at World Record breaking National Irish Indoor championships

The Irish Indoor Athletics championships were held last weekend in the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. This was the first time for the Irish and Northern Ireland championships to be promoted jointly. It also marked the first time that a major athletics event to be staged at this £100 million arena.

The first race of the day was 3000m walk and Gillian O Sullivan of Kerry got the championships off to a glorious start by setting a new word record of 11.35 beating the old record which was held by Romanian Claudia Ivan. Our own Ivonne Cassin fought gallantly finishing 3rd in the race and was pleased with her time of 13.51.01, winning herself her first All Ireland Indoor championships medal. Anne McGill 4th in a time of 16.23

Ivonne's husband Jeff competed in the men's 5000m and was very pleased with his performance finishing 6th overall in a time of 21.09.93. James Gibbons using the race as preparation for the European Masters Indoor Championships to be held in San Sebastian in Spain 6-9 March was also pleased with his performance finishing 7th overall in a time of 22.21.51.

Catriona McGranaghan competed in the 3000m run finishing 5th in a personal best time of 9.43.55. Well done to all.

The club also congratulate Garry Murray on this excellent performance in winning 1500m title. Also to Sharon Foley (Gallen) on her winning the High Jump title.

This was a great and very enjoyable two days of top class athletics with great performances from our own Irish athletes but also from guesting international athletes. Olympic 200m champion Darren Campbell along with Mark Lewis-Francis all showed their presence. Interesting to note that Richard Simms who competed on numerous occasions for Valley is manager to Mark Lewis. All at Finn Valley are delighted to see Richard doing so well and wish him and his squad the best of luck.

The club wish to thank Bernie Alcorn along with Christine Feely and Sean Carlin for organizing the bus to take the juveniles of the club to the arena on Sunday. The day was greatly enjoyed by all.

Valley's Bosco Wins Gold at British Indoor Masters Championships

Valley's Bosco Reid traveled to the British Indoor champions last weekend and had an excellent competition winning the shot putt event with a throw of 11.51.

Sports Hall Athletics

Congratulations to all our young juveniles who qualified for the Donegal Team selected to compete in the Ulster finals of Sports Hall athletics to be held on the 11th of March.

U13 boys: Gavin Carlin, Ryan McDaid, Lorcan McMenamin, Kevin Gallagher, Paul Doherty and Shane Bonner.

U13 girls: Laura Feely.

U15 Girls: Grainne Nangle and Roisin Neary. Well done to all and best of luck.

Valley's Laura Feely wins Ulster title in School handball championships

The club also wish to congratulate Laura Feely on winning the Ulster Schools hand ball championships. This qualifies Laura now to compete in the All Ireland final on the 11th March.

News from Abroad

Valley's Gerry O Doherty had a good run last week in the 4th event of the South Essex cross-country league finishing 39th and scoring on the team for Billericay Striders. His club is lying second place just one point behind the leaders with two event to go. Best of luck to Gerry and his team.

The club sends best wishes to Simon Ward and Pat McElroy who compete in the World Army cross-country championships in France next week. All will be watching out for results.

The Valley center is extremely busy at the moment with various events taking place. The Armagh U21 team had a training session there on Saturday while the Donegal ladies team trained over the weekend. The Donegal team also there warmup preparation at the center before their game with Armagh.

Next Week The annual Donegal County Board dinner takes place at the center on Friday night. Valley's Bosco Reid will be receiving his award for Donegal Master athlete of the year.

Club training continues every Tuesday and Thursday night at 7.30pm and Sunday morning at 10.30am.