Letterkenny Athletic Club marathon specialist, Caitriona Jennings, travelled to Hong Kong and put on an excellent performance which resulted in a podium finish.
Caitriona’s time of 2.51.31 gave her 3rd place in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon on Sunday October 24th.
The leading woman was Kit Ching Yiu, with a time of 2.39.27. The overall race winner was Kai Lol Wong, in 2.31.10.
Caitriona and Annmarie McGlynn both featured in a table produced just a few days ago.
They both appeared in a list of the top 20 Irish Marathoners so far in 2021. Annmarie’s time of 2.29.34 saw her take 2nd place. The only Irish woman ahead of her was Aoife Cooke, with 2.28.36. Caitriona’s Hong Kong time also gave her a Top 20 place.
Eoin Hughes overcame adversity when he crossed the line in 5th place in the very competitive North Down AC Open 4 mile XC. Eoin’s time in Bangor was 21.31 and he successfully overcame the difficulty of losing one of his shoes in the first quarter of the race. The race winner was Mark McKinistry, North Belfast Harriers, in 21.01.
Several Letterkenny AC runners made the short journey to Newtoncunninghham to run in Saturday’s ‘Light Up Newton 5K’. 2 of the many LAC runners who have notched up a plethora of PBs in recent months are Michael Harkin and Eimear Gormley.
The 2 teachers clearly benefitted from their October mid-term holiday by, yet again, setting new 5K PBs. Michael’s time of 18.08 gave him a 3rd place finish. Eimear’s time of 18.43 gave her 6th place overall. She was the 2nd woman, with Niamh Wallace (Foyle Valley AC) taking 1st place.
The overall winner was Gary Scully in 16.49. Tipperary man Gary is a great supporter of Donegal athletics. Despite the line in the famous song about it being ‘a long way to (from) Tipperary’, Gary is a regular at Donegal road races.
The next woman was Marie Boyle in 20.34. Marie was also the winner of the F40 category. Bryan Margey clocked 21.52 and fellow M40 runner, Paul Sweeney, finished in 22.03. Margaret Shiels’ recent good form continued and she was an impressive winner of the F50 category in 22.16.
Adrian Callaghan celebrated his birthday with a fine run and came home in 22.57. Dara Dunne was the 2nd F50 runner, in 23.54.
Noreen McGettigan continued her quest to run a Half Marathon in each of Ireland’s 32 Counties. She completed the recent Tralee Half Marathon, Co Kerry, in a time of 1.42.26, which was almost a minute faster than her time in the Enniscrone Half Marathon (Co Sligo) a few weeks ago. Noreen has now run in Half Marathons in 28 Irish Counties.
Paul Lee had a good run in the Tir Chonaill AC Hallowe’en 10K in Glentes on Sunday. Paul was 2nd in the M50 category and was a top 10 finisher overall. His time was 45.53. The winner was Charlie O’Donnell, Rosses AC, in 34.31. Gary Scully, competing in Donegal for the second time in 24 hours, was 2nd in 35.50.
Natasha Adams had an exceptional run in the 5K in Glenties, which was run in conjunction with the 10K. Natasha was 2nd overall, and the leading woman, in 17.12. She was just 6 seconds behind winner, Patrick Trimble, Rosses AC. Niamh McDaid ran well and crossed the line in 24.09.
Anthony Farren completed Saturday’s Letterkenny parkrun in 24.14. He was the leading M55 finisher. Paul Lee, competing for the 69th time, finished in 25.40. He was 3rd in the M50 category. Parkrun regular, John Doherty, also finished in 25.40. Maura O’Grady was the leading W55 runner in 27.14.
Letterkenny Athletic Club wishes to convey sincere condolences to Peter Gallagher, and his family, following the death of his father, Finbar.
