Letterkenny AC – Mooney selected to run in Armagh International Road Race

Danny Mooney was selected to represent N.Ireland/Ulster in the 2018 Armagh International Road Race, which will be held on the evening of Thursday February 15th.

This 5K is regarded as the top 5K in Europe. In 2017, Danny ran 14.38 and 77 runners ran times which were sub 15 minutes.  

A further 74 ran sub 16 minute  times.  

Earlier in the week, the in-form Danny was featured in the highly respected athletics’ section- ‘The Inside Track’- of the ‘Irish News’ newspaper. It focused on the versatile athlete’s ability as a 3,000m indoor runner. 

On Saturday night at the Donegal Athletic Awards function in the Finn Valley Centre, Danny McDaid was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Donegal Athletics Board.

It is a much deserved award.  Danny had a 15 year period at the top in Athletics in the 1970s and 1980s.  During that period, Danny became a double Olympian and ran 10 times in the World Cross Country Championships, including being captain of the silver medal winning team in Limerick in 1979 when he himself finished 11th.

Danny also won numerous National Marathon titles. including the year it was used as the trial race for the 1976 Olympics, where he recorded his marathon PB of 2.13.06.

Well over 200 runners braved the elements on Sunday morning to compete in the first race of the very popular Lifford/Strabane AC 5K series.  The east Donegal village of Carrigans was the setting for the first part of the 2018  trilogy. Kevin Kelly was the first Letterkenny AC runner. He crossed the line in 18.02 to finish in 11th place. Next was Martin Gormley whose time of 19.14 gave him 2nd place in the M50 category. Barry Mackey clocked 20.32, Liam Ferry 20.35 and Shaun McGilloway 20.40.

Noreen McGettigan was the leading F40 runner in 22.09. Richard Raymond, M60, and Margaret Shiels, F45,  were both 3rd in their categories. Richard clocked 22.40 and Margaret 23.14. Noel Lynch’s time was 23.04. The race winner was Finn Valley AC’s Ben Carr in 17.04. 

Prizes are based on athletes’ positions over the whole series, so several LAC athletes have already put themselves in strong positions. 

Barry Meehan became the latest Letterkenny AC runner to win the Letterkenny parkrun. He was first across the line on Saturday morning   in a time of 19.56, following in the footsteps of previous LAC winners, Jack Holian, Nakita Burke, Paul Toner, Martin Gormley and Sean McFadden. Young Mark Galvin had a phenomenal run and finished 3rd in 20.52. He was the leading JM10 runner and, in his first parkrun, he set  a new JM10 record, eclipsing the previous best of 21.16 which had been set before Christmas by fellow LAC runner, Alex Plumb. Alex finished in 22.00 and was 5th overall this week. Sandwiched between these 2 young athletes was Mark’s dad, Michael, whose time of 21.43 gave him 4th place overall and 1st in the M45 category.

Frank Pinder was 8th overall and the top M55 finisher in 23.16. Parkrun regular, Cathal Roarty, who is just 1 short of a quarter century of appearances was the leading M50 runner in 24.23. Katie McGhee was the first JW11-14 runner in 24.41. Young Ryan Bradley clocked 25.36, Kieran Coyle 26.29, Noel Lynch 26.30,  Frankie Pinder 30.45 snd Eileen Pinder 37.51.

LAC member, Gerard McGranaghan, is helping to organise a race in Kilmacrennan on Sunday January 21st. ‘The Kilmac 10’ will start at 11.00. There will be chip timing, the entry fee is €8 and registration and parking are at Millbridge shop. A Family 5K will start at 12.00, which will have  an entry fee of €5 for a single walker and €10 per family. 

The winning numbers in the LAC Lotto draw on January 13th were 1,3,13 and 23. There were no jackpot winners. Edel Frize successfully matched 2 numbers. The jackpot remains at €2,000, which would be sufficient to fund new running shoes and a  period of warm weather training, which would be most welcome in the current weather conditions.