Ulster Juvenile Cross-Country success for Valley

Finn Valley juveniles contested the first round of the Ulster Cross-Country Championships on an excellent course in Ballyclare, Co. Antrim last Saturday. Despite the majority of our athletes being out of their age groups they came away with three Team Gold and three team Silvers and three individual placings. The club is now favourite to take the overall top club in Ulster title once again.

U11 Girls

The under 11 girls got the Championships underway with good performances from Madeline Penrose 27th, Rochelle Tourish 30th, Ciara McGarvey 46th, Carla McDaid 50th, Justine Duffy 63rd and Niamh Gallen 79th. The team result in this race has been withheld.

U11 Boys

Our under 11 boys showed great talent and strength in depth with fantastic runs from Colm McLaughlin 6th, Emmet Patterson 7th, Ryan McNulty 8th, Ciaran Brennan 13th, Mark Bonner 14th and Andrew Gallagher 15th winning the team title. Colm Emmet and Ryan were also scoring members of the Donegal team which won the inter-county title in the Inter-County Provincial Championships. Also running well for the club in this age group were Dean Bonner 27th, Kevin Smith 36th, Paul Kelly 41st, Ryan Kelly 43rd, Ryan Porter 44th.

U13 Girls

The under 13 girls produced an individual medallist in the ever improving Fionnuala Lindsay who is producing consistently good performances this year and deserving of her Bronze medal. Gemma Vance 12th, Aoife Whelan 16th, Karen Ferguson 19th, Ailish Patton 20th and Mairead McGill 32nd won the Silver medals in the team championships just pipped for the Gold by a mere two points. Also running well in this race was Niamh Doherty just back from flu in 36th, Clara Dunnion 41st, Andrea McCafferty 53rd, Donna McBride 54th, Charlie Stag 64th and Ciara Devenney 70th. Donegal won the Gold medals in the Inter-County Provincial Championships here with Fionnuala, Gemma and Aoife all scoring members of the team.

U13 Boys

The under 13 boys also won the club team title with another brilliant run from Pauric McLaughlin in 4th place, a year out of his age group, with great back up from Gerry Boyle 18th, Philip Browne 20th, Dermot Brennan 23rd, Patrick Geary 31st and Karl Bradley 43rd. Strong runs also from Niall Doherty 47th, Michael Penrose 79th and Cormac Gallen 86th. Donegal won the silver medals in the Inter-county Provincial Championships with Pauric, Gerry and Philip all on the scoring team.

U15 Girls

The under 15 girls race produced an outstanding individual winner for the club with Jackie Gibson having the best race of her life to clinch the Gold medal. Breda McGinty, seriously affected by flu ran a a very brave race in order to qualify for the national championships finishing 6th, Maeve Culhane 14th, Bronaghh O'Doherty 23rd, Shauna Guthrie 33rd, Tara Hegarty 39th, Fionnuala Bruton 51st and Natasha Duffy 54th. The Finn Valley team also won the Gold in the team race and to put icing on the cake Donegal won the inter-county Championships with Jackie, Breda and Maeve all on the scoring team.

U15 Boys

The under 15 boys did not have the best of days which is very out of character for them but apart from Shane Bonner the team got caught at the start and struggled to fight their way through a very large field. However, in the end they were just beaten by one point and will be determined in the nationals to reverse that position. Ian Ward was the lead runner in 9th place, Ryan McDaid 12th, Shane Bonner 14th, Kevin Mossey 16th, Diarmuid Fullerton 23rd and Kevin Gallagher 24th made up the team with good runs from Aiden Connolly 35th, Pat Northern 46th and Kevin O'Donnell 58th. Donegal won the inter-county title in this race with Ian, Ryan and Shane all on the scoring team.

U17 Girls

The under 17 girls were out of the medals in joint 4th position but the team ran very well with lead runner Nikki Alcorn 16th having her best race this season with Emma O'Neill 28th, Paula Gallagher 30th and Geraldine Kelly 40th. Donegal were narrowly beaten into Silver position by Antrim in the inter-county Championships with Nikki scoring on the Donegal team.

U17 Boys

The under 17 boys race was perhaps the most exciting race of the day with a ding-dong battle between two very good Donegal athletes namely Marty Kelly from Letterkenny and our own Alan Cavanagh. Alan who had won the U16 County Championships the previous week took on the talented Letterkenny lad with Marty just pipping him in the sprint finish. However, Alan should be full of confidence for his own age group in Killybegs on the 9th November. Mark McGowan, another athlete just recovering flu ran very well in 15th place, Conor McConnell close behind in 17th, Stefan Connolly 18th, his best run of the season, Ross Wherity 29th, Enda Doherty 37th, Brian Patton 66th and Ronan McCabe 68th. This team were also unlucky to be beaten by one point but as they are all a year out of their age group this was a very good performance indeed. Donegal were silver medal winners in the inter-county Championships with Alan, Mark, Conor and Stefan all scoring members of the team.

Levina Merritt in U19 Girls

We had no team in the under 19th girls race but Levina Merritt, who won the Under 18 Donegal Championships, represented us individually and ran very well to finish 9th and qualify on the Ulster team for the National Championships in Mullingar.

Ulster Novice

Michael McGlinchey finished 3rd in the Ulster Novice Championships while Charlene Rushe finished 7th in the women's novice race.

Dublin Marathon

Seanie McDevitt and Noreen McConigley competed in the Dublin Marathon but placings are not available as yet.

Plans for Birmingham

Patsy McGonagle and Patsy Doherty are bringing our under 16 boys team of Alan Cavanagh, Mark McGowan, Conor McConnell, Stefan Connolly, Ross Wherity, Enda Doherty, Maurice Boyle, Diarmuid Fullerton, Kevin Gallagher, Brian Patton and Ronan McCabe to compete in the Reebok International in Birmingham this weekend. The club wishes them all the very best of luck.

Training

Training continues at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Sunday mornings at 10.30 a.m.

Donegal Hospice

Congratulations to committee members Grace Boyle and Bridgeen Doherty for organising a very successful 3K female run/walk to raise funds for the Donegal Hospice. It is hoped that this will become a very well supported race on an annual basis.

Bernie Alcorn 28/10/2003.