Ann-Marie McGlynn was a convincing winner of the women’s 6K race in Abbotstown yesterday with a time of 20.58.
Just a few days before Ann-Marie’s fine performance in Dublin, she was named as Donegal Senior Female Athlete of the Year at the County Board AGM.
Several Letterkenny AC runners travelled to Abbotstown in Dublin on Sunday to take part in the Autumn Cross Country races. The Masters’ races doubled up as trials for selecting the Republic of Ireland teams for the upcoming Masters’ International against N. Ireland. The race is normally a 5 Nations’ Masters’ International Cross Country. However, due to the pandemic, that event was cancelled this year and has been replaced by the smaller Republic of Ireland vs N. Ireland event.
Ann-Marie was 18 seconds clear of the next runners, fellow Donegal women Jennifer Elvin of Finn Valley AC and Claire McGuigan of Lifford Strabane AC, who both recorded 21.16.
4 of the top 5 in the race were from Donegal clubs, showing the strength of Donegal women in Masters’ cross country running.
Ann-Marie received the ‘Jim McNamara Trophy’ for her efforts. The trophy is in memory of the man who was one of Ireland’s top distance runners in the 1970s. Like Danny McDaid, he ran in the Olympic Marathon in Montreal in 1976.
In a very competitive Senior Women’s race, in-form Christine Russell put on an excellent performance to claim a top 10 position with a time of 21.32 for the 6K. Another highly consistent performer, Nakita Burke, had a top 20 finish in a highly creditable time of 22.23. Abbie Donnelly was the race winner in 20.51.
In the men’s race, containing several of Ireland’s leading runners, Donal Farren had an excellent race. He finished the 7.5K course in 15th place in a time of 24.28. Conor Gallagher was also in fine form and clocked 26.28. Darragh McElhinney, UCD AC, was the race winner in 22.59.
Barry Mackey in Dubai
Barry Mackey, currently in Dubai with Letterkenny AC couple Irene and Sean McFadden, had another successful Friday morning outing as he finished fastest of the M50 age group in the Mai Dubai Half Marathon. Barry was the winner of the M50 category in the Dubai 10K the previous Friday.
Barry was in the top 10 overall, in a time of 1.32.40. The race winner was Konrad Taber in 1.21.13. In total, he placed in two 1st M50 categories 10k, half marathon 8th & 10th overall.
The route comprised 4 laps of Downtown Dubai. The race had a 6.00am start to avoid the very hot part of the day. Despite the very early start, Barry described conditions as ‘very humid but a great experience’.
Parkrun specialist, John Doherty, had another good run in the Letterkenny parkrun. In his 19th parkrun, John crossed the line in 26.22. Maura O’Grady also ran well and was first in the W55 category in 28.35.
The first runner home was Michael Guinea, West Limerick AC, in 19.38
The club would like to offer best wishes for a speedy recovery to Theresa Wiseman, who recently underwent surgery. It is hoped that she will soon be able to return to the club training sessions that she had been a regular at.
