Thirty three athletes from Inishowen Athletics Club competed in the Donegal even ages and masters cross-country championships at the Finn Valley Centre in Stranorlar on Sunday last. Despite the torrential downpours of the previous 24 hours, the undulating course held up extremely well under the busy schedule of races. Runners and spectators enjoyed an action packed day in warm autumn sunshine. In the masters women’s race over 3km, Katrina Ruddy from Culdaff opened her cross-country season with a very solid 6th place finish behind winner Margaret Synott from Letterkenny A.C. The men’s 5km proved to be a very exciting individual and team race with Inishowen and Finn Valley battling it out for the silver and bronze medals. Letterkenny took individual and team gold as Joe Mc Kinney led the Inishowen team to an excellent second place by finishing strongly in taking 6th overall. The Malin based athlete powered his way through the field in the second half of the race and was strongly supported by Paddy Doherty from Buncrana. Peter White battled well in the muddy underfoot conditions to clinch the third scoring spot as Owenie Mc Kinney was just seconds behind with a very composed performance to complete the scoring team. In the juvenile races, Nathan Harkin finished 10th in the U 10 boys, while Niamh Mc Daid and Aideen O’ Rourke finished 6th and 14th respectively in the girls event. Fergus Cox led the U 12 boys to bronze medals by finishing 13th overall. He was well supported by Darragh Kelly in 19th, Ethan O’ Kane in 23rd, James Monagle in 24th and Thomas Monagle in 31st. The Inishowen U 12 girls’ team also won bronze medals with Aine Bradley leading them home in a fine 4th place finish overall. Grainne Hession was just four places behind in 8th with Eimer Reddin finishing 11th. Lauren Keever finished 23rd, Emma Doherty 24th, Deirdre Doherty 25th, and Niamh O Rourke 27th. Declan Farran from Malin raced strongly to clinch 3rd in the U 14 boys 1500m and was followed closely by Declan Donaghy in 4th. These performances along with David Doherty 15th, Derek Lee Doherty 21st, Feargal Doherty 24th and David Sheridan 30th ensured silver team medals behind Letterkenny A.C. Connie-Ann Hession led the U 14 girls’ team to fourth place overall with a determined run in 17th place. Susie Hegarty finished 21st with Aoife Bell and Kate Doherty completing the team in 23rd and 26th positions. In the U 16 boys 3km, James Griffin finished 8th overall. Steve Sheridan will have learned much from the experience and can look forward to the uneven ages championships this coming weekend. Kayla Farren recorded a composed performance to take 4th place in the U 16 girls 2km.

RESULTS & PHOTOS DONEGAL EVEN AGES & MASTERS XC

RESULTS DONEGAL MOOATHON

Karen Crossan continued her impressive form on the roads in recent weeks by running 18.35 in the Rathfarnham 5km on Sunday last. Finbarr Gallagher had one of his last competitive outings before the Dublin City marathon on Monday 27th October when running a consistent 1.25.38 in the Great North Run in Newcastle on Sunday also. Shaun Mc Laughlin, who is running the Amsterdam marathon in two weeks time, sharpened his speed with a 43.23 finishing time at the An Coisantoir 10km on Wednesday week last.