Arlene Crossan produced a new Finn Valley club record in the 400m at the Irish Milers club meeting in Dublin at the weekend, returning a time of 55.13. This is an improvement on her previous Finn Valley record and shows tremendous progress over a short period. Arlene will now compete in Belfast this incoming weekend and Brussels the following weekend, as she continues to seek to run sub 55.
Also in Dublin at the weekend, we had Amy Greene competing in the 3000m, finishing 3rd in a time of 9.49.79, just pipped but yet another positive development race for her. Oisin Toye ran the 800m in a time 1.56.09, a new pb for him. Eimear McCarroll continues to show progress and personal best performances and has done this consistently over 800 and 1500m both indoors and now outdoors and on this occasion in Dublin ran a time of 4.26.40 to finish 4th in a senior race and that is a PB for her and an excellent performance and ranks her in the Finn Valley Best Performances list at number 5.
Ciaran McCarroll, Eimear’s younger brother, competed over 400m recording a time of 51.98. Amy Timoney, returning from injury, ran the 100m, returning a time of 13.11. Tristan Kelly, after returning just days prior from the USA where he is on an Athletics Scholarship, ran in the 3k in a time of 8.57. Well done to all.
It was a particularly strong weekend for 400m running in relay terms with Ireland doing really well at the World Relay Championships in Bahamas. The total focus over the weekend was not only on 400m running and not only relays but Kelly McGrory from Lahey also produced an excellent performance over 400m in Milan to break the Donegal record.
On Monday in Letterkenny the Annual North West 10k was the order of the day with just short of 1,000 competitors, a great turnout for this charity event which is headed up by our own Neil Martin and his team who will be happy with the turnout which is in aid of three charities. The leading Finn Valley athlete, in terms of overall positions, was Maggie O’Hara finishing 3rd in the women’s race in a time of 39.36. Other Strong performances from Darren Toland (37.32), Garvin Boyce (43.26) and Blanaid Patton (42.34) in an event in which approximately 40 club members participated.
Also this weekend we are looking ahead to the Donegal Senior Track and Field Championships are being held in Lifford on Sunday. This is an open event so it should be competitive and the weather indications are very good.
The Secondary Schools Athletics has been on the agenda in the last weeks and we had many Finn Valley athletes come through the district championships and now next week, the Ulster Schools Finals take place at the Mary Peters Track. This will be the litmus test for many of our athletes as they attempt to qualify for the Irish Schools Finals which is, in itself, an excellent meet and an excellent opportunity for many of our young athletes.
Local Primary Schools Athletics Challenge was an enormous success and we now look forward to next Wednesday for the finals which will see over 1,000 participants. It’s a 10.30am sharp start. Enter on the day.