The Brooks 5K Armagh International Road Race, a race which can legitimately lay claim to be the world’s most competitive 5K, was held on Thursday night.
The race produced 79 sub 15 minute performances and was won by Ben Connor in 13.55.
One of the 79 was Letterkenny Athletic Club’s Danny Mooney, who crossed the line in 14.37.
Danny was given excellent back up by the other 3 members of the 4 man LAC team. Eoghain McGinley clocked 15.20, Darren McBrearty came home in 15.30 and was closely followed by Pauric Breslin in 15.33.
In the 3K, there were outstanding performances from 2 young LAC runners. Matthew Johnston finished in an impressive 9.17. It was a happy 18th Birthday for Eoin Hughes, whose time was 9.32.
The race winner was Stephen Mackey who crossed the line in 8.45.
Annemarie McGlynn had an impressive run in the Women’s 3K. She finished in 9.33 in a very fast race in which the winner, Laura Weightman of top North East of England club, Morpeth Harriers, set a new course record of 8.59. Annmarie helped the Irish team, under the able management of LAC coach Teresa McDaid, to 3rd place in the International team event.
Annmarie showed her immense fitness and powers of recovery when, less than 48 hours later, she ran the 3000m in the Senior Indoor Championship at Abbotstown, Dublin. Annmarie was 5th in an excellent time of 9.26.58.
Brendan Boyce recorded a time of 20.09 at Abbotstown in the 5K walk. He finished in 3rd position. Peter Glass had a superb 2nd place in the Pole Vault, where he cleared 4.55m.
On Sunday, Danny Mooney had a fine run in the National Indoor Championship when he finished 5th in the 3000m in a time of 8.26.61. Eoin Everard of Kilkenny City Harriers won the race in 8.19.69.
Two of Letterkenny AC’s M60 runners had top 5 finishes in Saturday’s Letterkenny parkrun 5K. Jimmy McBride was 4th overall, and the 1st M60, in a time of 23.09. He was followed by Richard Raymond, who clocked 23.38. Parkrun regular Peter McLean competed in the event for the 43rd time and finished in 25.53, which gave him 2nd place in the 55-59 category. It was also Peter’s 3rd fastest parkrun time. Fionnuala Larkin’s time was 27.00. She was the 2nd finisher in the W35-39 age group.
Patrick Brennan turned in a tremendous performance in the ‘Paul Gildea Memorial 5K’ in Letterkenny on Sunday. His time of 18.12 gave him a 3rd place finish, behind Gavin Crawford and Michael Black. Kevin Kilkenny clocked 20.09 and Lee Gildea made a welcome return to racing, with a fine display to finish in 20.52.
Adrian Callaghan crossed the line in 21.21 and Seanog Foody in 21.33. Evergreen Richard Raymond defied the years by running his second 5K on consecutive days. The in-form Kerryman took more than a minute off Saturday’s parkrun time to finish in 22.00. Fellow LAC M60, Philip Connolly, clocked 25.30. Linda Cronin finished in 26.52. The event attracted several hundred runners.
Siobhan Gallagher had an excellent performance at the Sportsman Duathlon, where she finished 2nd.
