Golden Weekend for Club

Finn Valley juveniles were in Tullamore once again last weekend. After the U11 to U13 individual Championships and relays the previous weekend, the older juveniles had a lot to live up to -- Valley's younger group had won eight National medals, seven individual and one relay. In fact they excelled themselves winning an unprecedented twelve individual National medals, three Gold, three Silver and six Bronze plus many personal best performances.

The racewalkers had an early start on Saturday morning with Shauna Guthrie and Natasha Duffy competing in the first event of the day U14 2000m. Shauna had a brilliant race working her way through to 3rd place and despite serious pressure in the last lap held on to win the bronze medal. Natasha also raced very well to finish in 7th place. Next on the track were the U15 girls Maeve Culhane, Charlene Kelly and Fionnuala Bruton. Maeve had a terrific race fighting all the way to the finish also to win bronze, Charlene also raced well to finish 8th with Fionnuala, who has been racing very well recently, forced to drop out of the race with one lap to go through illness. So with the day going extremely well with two medals in the first two events Nikki Alcorn was next on track to contest the U16 2000m - Nikki raced very well winning the Silver medal after a battle for the Gold with Aoibheann Prendiville from Kerry.

The first field event for us was the U16 high jump where Frances Galbraith competed very well equal on height for 3rd place but put back to 4th position on countback. Geraldine Kelly was next in the U17 Long Jump where she finished 6th leaving her in confident form for her main event the Triple Jump the next day. Philip Heapes was delighted with making the final in the U14 Hammer where he finished in 8th place. Matthew Larkin finished 10th in the 100m Hurdles U17. Joe McGinley improving all the time with a p.b. of 12.06 in the 100m. Pauric Feely was 5th in the Long Jump with 5.40m.

Kieran McConnell who travelled from England with his parents Sue and Packie, competed in the U17 Discus. Kieran who won the U16 title last year led the competition from start to finish the only competitor over 40metres. Kieran should now be selected for the Celtic Games International which will be held in Antrim on the 2nd August. Michael Reid, also had a very good competition finishing 4th in the Discus and then going straight to the javelin where he finished 6th.

So with everyone in good spirits with a coveted Gold medal in the bag hopes were high for Ian Ward and Shane Bonner in the 1500m -- our last competitors of day one. Ian went with the fast pace in the first lap and was battling for Gold until the final straight and bravely fought to the line for his Bronze medal. Shane who ran steadily through the first half of the race put in a great finish picking off 5 athletes in the last two laps to finish 10th. So with one Gold, one Silver and three bronze medals after day one the athletes went off for a well earned rest to come back in great form on Sunday.

The first athlete on track on day two was Mark McGowan who had won a bronze medal the previous weekend in the U16 4 x 100m Relay. Mark was competing this time in the 250m Hurdles and after winning his heat knew he was in with a good chance of a medal in the final. Mark ran exceptionally well in the final with a new p.b. and a Bronze medal for his efforts. Mark is a very dedicated athlete who left the Gaeltacht both weekends to compete at the National Championships. Matthew Larkin competed well in his heat of the U17 300m Hurdles but failed to make the final. Next up was Mark McGlinchey in the U18 400m Hurdles commonly regarded as the most difficult event on the track but tackled very bravely by Mark who finished 7th in the final and with a good winters work over hurdles will be in contention next year.

Gavin McCrudden was competing in the U14 javelin and out to retain his title won last year. Gavin was in the lead from start to finish and easily won the Gold medal much to the delight of his supporters and his coach George Gallen. Matthew Larkin competed in a new event for him the U17 Pole Vault and did very well to win the Bronze medal. Brendan Culhane was pleased with his 6th place in the final of the U16 Hammer equalling his personal best. Ciara Gallen competed very well in the U14 javelin and finished 9th overall in a very close competition.

The Feely family who always feature in the medals were once again very prominent with parents Frank and Christine having both sons competing in different events at the same time. Pauric was competing in the U17 Triple Jump as Kevin was competing in the U19 Hammer. Pauric led the triple jump until the very last round where he was unfortunate to be passed and ended up with the Bronze medal but should be very well pleased with his new p.b. of 12.21m. Meanwhile Kevin won the Silver medal in the Hammer despite a hand and elbow injury sustained in the previous week just missing out on the Gold with 36.34m against Neil Dougan, Regent House with 37.77metres, another Donegal athlete, Connie O'Gara, Sliabh Liag was 3rd in this event. Kevin then went to the Shot Putt competition where once again he has narrowly beaten into Silver position with a putt of 13.00m. This was Kevin's last year in juvenile competition and it was great to see it end on such a successful note. So talented are this family that younger sister Laura won the bronze medal in the Shot Putt U13 the previous weekend.

With everything going so well Finn Valley athletes, coaches and supporters alike were holding their breath as Geraldine Kelly competed in the U17 Triple Jump. Geraldine who has been in the club since she was a toddler had never won a National Championship medal but was always on the borderline waiting for her day to come. Geraldine peaked at exactly the right time this season and her jumps for joy after each round were contagious with p.b. after p.b. Geraldine won the Gold with 10.47 metres. Geraldine is the daughter of Michael Kelly, Finn Valley's first senior athlete. Geraldine's younger brother Matthew won silver in the Ball Throw last weekend another very talented family.

Joe McGinley was on the track again this time in his favourite event the 200m with his aim to make the final. Joe ran an excellent bend and was up with the leaders with 70m to go and although he started to struggle he battled to the line to get a new p.b. of 24.73 and a place in the final. Unfortunatley before the final a thunderstorm broke out which paid to anybody's hopes for faster times as the track was waterlogged. However, Joe ran very well in the final finishing 7th. Jackie Gibson was actually on the starting line for the U14 800m when the heavens opened and the race had to be postponed until the worst was over. Jackie got boxed in at the start of the race and had to run very hard to get back into contention and held on to 3rd place until the 600m where she faded and ended up 8th but she is certainly a young athlete with a bright future. Ian Ward suffered a similar fate in his 800m finishing 6th but had the consolation of his bronze medal from the day before. Stefan Connolly ran a very strong race in the U16 800m final with a very good time of 2.09 considering the atrocious conditions and would almost certainly have run a p.b. in good conditions.

There ended the most successful juvenile Track & Field Championships ever for Finn Valley Athletic Club since it was founded in 1971- Four Golds, Five Silvers and Eleven Bronze medals making Finn Valley once again Ulster's top club at the National Championships. Congratulations to all the other Donegal clubs who did well also. The club wishes to thank the coaches who give their time voluntarily year after year to help these young athletes enjoy athletics and reach their potential. Thanks to club coaches Christine Feely, Bernie Alcorn, Patsy McGonagle, Seamus McGranaghan, George Gallen and Peadar McGranaghan who travelled with the athletes last weekend and to Richard Alcorn who took the photographs to record the memories and indeed to all parents and supporters who travelled.

It is interesting to note that for the period 2002/2003 track & Field along with the cross-country 65 young Valley athletes gained National Championship medals. This in National term is an excellent result and puts Valley up there with the top National clubs such as DSD and Ferrybanks. Great credit to all coaches involved which brings us onto the subject of coaching.

Coaching

Patsy McGonagle chairman of the club stated at the last committee meeting that he intends to go a step further in the development of coaching at the club. Residential coaching weekends are held regular in England and if any of Valley's coaches were interested in attending these courses they should contact Patsy and let me know of their interest. It is envisaged that each coach in the club will coach in a specialised area and by attending the appropriate course will gain specialised knowledge of their event.

National Inter-County Relays

Next weekend nine of our athletes are involved in the National Inter-County Relays which will be held in Tullamore also. Travel arrangements will be available at the Finn Valley Centre. All the other juvenile athletes are now on a break until the first Tuesday in September.

Astro Pitches

Finn Valley enjoyed a spectacular night at the opening of the Astro Pitches. It was another great and historic occasion with all sporting organisations represented. It was great to see the likes of Brian Kerr Irish Soccer Manager, Brian McEniff Donegal GAA Team Manager, Patsy McGonagle AAI, along with many others enjoy the occasion together

Odds and Ends

Best wishes to Patsy McGonagle and the Donegal team who play the All Ireland Qualifier on Saturday in Clones. We all wish you the best of luck.

Next Grand Prix race is on Tuesday night in Burtonport. Best of luck to all competing.