Kay Byrne on Irish Masters Winning Team

International Masters -- Cardiff

Congratulations to Kay Byrne who finished 18th in the International Masters race in Cardiff last weekend. Kay was the 3rd scoring member on the Irish team which won the event. The race was won by Ireland's Ann Keenan-Buckley for the 5th time.

James McMahon also competed on the Irish team in Cardiff and finished an excellent 17th and was the 4th scoring member of the Irish team who finished in second position. Dominic Bonner, 28th, had a below par performance and did not make the scoring team but hopefully will bounce back this weekend for the Inter-Counties. Pat McElroy was on the Northern Ireland team and finished 49th.

National Inter-counties in Mullingar

This Cardiff will set Kay up well for the National Inter-counties in Mullingar this weekend where the Donegal team will be hoping to get in the medals as they have consistently done over recent years. The Donegal women's team will unfortunately be weakened by the absence of Noeleen Porter who is out through injury but hopefully she will be back soon. Catriona McGranaghan and Clodagh McCool will also be on the Donegal team.

The Donegal men's team will as usual be immensely helped by Finn Valley athletes and hopefully Jerome Brooks who has been hampered recently by a hamstring injury will be back in full flight to help the team lift medals once again. Kieran Carlin, Barry Harron, Charlie Gallagher, Dominic Bonner, James McMahon, Michael McGlinchey and Kevin Holian are all part of this strong County team. Although Donegal has never won the Gold in the men's Championships they also have never been out of the medals in recent years with silver their highest placing.

Un-even Age-group National Championships at Mullingar

Our juveniles will also be competing in Mullingar in the un-even age-group National Championships and they will be hoping to come back with individual and team medals. The bus leaves the Finn Valley Centre at 7a.m. sharp on Sunday morning.

Juveniles' Christmas Party

The Christmas party for the juveniles will be held on Thursday, 18th December. The party for the younger members of the club will start at 7 p.m. and go on to 9 p.m. and the older juveniles from 9.30 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. This year's party is being organised by the new juvenile committee and we wish them luck in their first venture. They are also in the process of organising other social events, trips etc. Joe McGinley is the Chairperson, Geraldine Kelly and Laura Friel -- joint secretaries, Mark McGlinchey, Nikki Alcorn and Nikki Connolly joint P.R.O.s and Kieran O'Grady, Treasurer.

Newsletter

The club has just issued their first newsletter and the committee would like someone to volunteer to take this job on on a monthly basis. If you are interested let someone on the committee know. The new club tracksuits are available at the centre and it would be desirable if every club athlete had one of the new tops. They are subsidised by the club and would make a lovely Christmas present. Contact reception.

Boxing Day Race

The club will be running the Boxing Day 5K run/walk as usual this year. We are asking for a record turnout this year and would encourage all families to join in the fun and take part. All money raised from the entry fee will be donated to charity as usual. This year's charity is the Dystonia Association of Ireland. The race will start from the centre at 1 p.m. and is always an enjoyable social occasion where past members from the club who are home for Christmas can meet up with all the current members.

Euro Star

Congratulations to Gary Philbin, boyfriend of club athlete Clodagh McCool who has reached the final of the Euro Star competition on RTE. Thanks to all club members who voted for Gary and keep an eye out for the first round of the final when votes will be needed again.

Bernie Alcorn, P.R.O.