Golden Weekend for Finn Valley

Ulster Juvenile and Irish Senior Indoor Championships

On Saturday morning the U/14 and U/15 athletes competed and got off to a great start in the first competition the boys U/14 long jump with Gavin Carlin winning the gold with a fine jump of 4.84m, a new p.b. and teammate Lorcan McMenamin winning the silver with a p.b. also of 4.62m. Gavin later went on to win the 60m Hurdles and Lorcan went on to win the silver in the High jump.

Laura Friel made a terrific breakthrough in the U/15 High Jump with personal best performances right through the competition to win the silver medal jumping 1.47m and only very narrowly missing 1.50m. Siobhan Gallagher also competed very well winning the bronze in the U/14 High Jump. Laura Feely continues to impress this season with yet another great competition winning the gold medal easily with a putt of 10.19m.

The walkers were next on track and provided a great demonstration of good walking with Aoife Whelan winning the gold medal in the U/14 1000m and Shauna Guthrie winning gold in the U/15 1000m, team-mate Natasha Duffy winning bronze in this race also.

Breda McGinty provided one of the most exciting races of the day in the U/15 800m after qualifying for the final as a fastest loser. Breda went on win the final in an excellent time of 2.29.1. Paul Doherty was our last competitor competing in the 60m final and was just pipped for the Gold medal but was well pleased with his silver medal. Paul also finished 5th in the 60m Hurdles.

Pauric McLaughlin and Philip Brown qualified for the 800m final and both put in great performances with Pauric finishing 4th overall but 3rd Ulster athlete as the winner was from Leinster. Pauric will therefore qualify for the All-Irelands.

Other athletes who performed very well making finals were Ciara Gallen in the 60m Hurdles, Shane McCool, 5th in Long Jump and Fionnuala Lindsay who ran very well in the U/14 800m. Gemma Vance and Christine O.Neill were heat winners in the 60m U/14 with Bronagh O'Doherty and Denise Beirne running well in the 60m and 200m U15. Jackie Gibson made the final of the 800m U15 while Christopher O'Leary was 3rd in his heat of the 60m U/14. Shane Bonner had a great run in the 800m U15 but failed to qualify for the final.

On Saturday evening/night our U17, 18 & 19 juveniles competed in the Irish Senior Championships to qualify for Nenagh and although they were obviously out of their depth they did very well in their own age groups in Ulster. Pauric Feely 1st 60m U18, 2nd Triple Jump, Nikki Alcorn 3rd 800m U/17, Stefan Connolly competed very well in the 400m, Maurice Boyle, Enda Doherty, Brian Patton, Stefan Connolly and Ronan McCabe qualified in 800m and 1500m. Mark McGlinchey qualified in the 400m and 800m. Brendan Alexander qualified in the U19 800m.

Barry Harron competed in the Senior Men's 3000m and will be well pleased with his performance.

On Sunday our under 16 athletes and remaining 17, 18 & 19 were competing with Laura Reid running a great 800m to win the silver medal. Kieran O'Grady finishing 4th in the Shot just a mere 11 cm short of the Bronze. Bronagh Sweeney competed well in the long jump and 200m. Brendan Culhane was first in the U17 Ulster section of the men's shot. Geraldine Kelly was 6th in the Senior Triple Jump and 1st in her own age group U/18. Emma O'Neill, had a great run in the Senior Women's 200m heat finishing 3rd but was very well up in her own age group U/17 in Ulster and qualified for the All-Irelands.

Joe McGinley and Declan Hennessey contested the Senior Men's 200m heats and both ran well to qualify for the All-Irelands in Nenagh.

Bosco Reid finished an excellent 7th in the Senior Men's Shot with James Gibbons 6th competing in a very exciting 5K Walk which was won by the Triple Olympic Champion and World Record Holder Robert Korzeniowski from Poland. Barry Harron will be very happy with his 7th placing in the National senior 3000m following a long break from athletics to complete his studies.

Sportshall

Congratulations to Laura Feely, Gold medallist shot putt, Lorcan Mc Menamin silver medal high jump, Shane McCool Bronze in the triple jump and Shane Bonner gold in the relay. Laura was on the Donegal U/13 sportshall team that won the Ulster area finals in Enniskillen and Shane, Lorcan and Shanewere on the Donegal U/13 team who finished 2nd . Both teams now go forward to the Ulster final and if successful there will qualify for the UK final in Birmingham.

Next Weekend

On Saturday the Ulster U/12 and U/13 individual championships plus the remaining events in the U14 to U/19 championships and the Ulster relay championships will be held in Templemore. On Sunday the seniors travel to Roscommon for the National Senior inter-club cross country championships. The best of luck to all.

Bernie Alcorn, P.R.O.