19 November 2016

Marina Murphy continued a rich vein of form when she was fourth in the Acorns AC Cross Country picking up the prize for first in the F35 age group.

Marina’s performance inspired team mates Kendra McMullan (8th), Amy McDaid (11th) and Elaine Connor (20th) to combine impressively for second place in the team competition.

Elaine’s 20th spot also saw her take runner-up in the F40 category while outside the scoring four Deirdre Haigney showed she is getting back to form with a fighting 31st of the 119 finishers.

Paul Barbour had his best run to date by taking the silver medal position in the men’s race.  Marty Cox also finished strong to take fifth with Brandon Connolly (30th) and Conor McIlveen (81st) showed improved endurance to complete the DTC scoring quartet.

The juveniles were also in top form.  Ben Mellon and Dean Quigley were sixth and eleventh in the U15 race while Sean McIntyre and Ben Bradley finished fifth and seventh in the U17 contest.

A number of DTC athletes took part in the Derry City parkrun with Gary McGee (19:55) leading the contingent home in fifth place overall.

Lily Toorish (21:56) was first lady and followed by Lisa McLaughlin (22:08), Anna Boyle (22:54), Kayla McLaughlin (23:03) and Lara Smailes (24:54).

NB: Would those in bold please update their club affiliation – there is a link to do this in the weekly email you get from parkrun.

6 November 2016

Derry Track Club athletes amassed an impressive haul of two individual bronze and two team silver medals at the Ulster Novice Cross Country Championships held at the Finn Valley Centre in Stranorlar, Co. Donegal.

Kendra McMullan made a sensational debut to the sport running an incredible race to take  third place in the women’s championship.

The Newbuildings woman followed club captain Amy McDaid out in the early stages  and looked comfortable in the leading bunch of six.

When Letterkenny’s Nakita Burke and Noeleen Scanlon went to the front, Kendra was the only one able to follow them.

With 600m to run, she was still in a position to win but the two Letterkenny girls were just too strong and pulled away to take the top two positions.

Behind her the DTC girls ran the race of their lives to ensure they brought home in a medal place.  Amy played a captain’s part to take sixth while another newcomer Elaine Connor held on to 13th and seal the silver medals.

The rest Lisa McLaughlin battled her way through the mud for 32nd followed by Aoife Wilson (44th) and former Irish sprint champion Anna Duffy (45th).

The DTC men lined up next and were prominent from the gun as Shane McGowan, Matt Doherty and David Gormley joined the lead pack.  Chris Millar followed shortly ensuring all four scorers were in the top dozen.

It was soon very clear that it was going to be a direct shootout between the Derry boys and Finn Valley who had lost out on the team title by just two points 12 earlier at the same venue.

The battle raged throughout the opening lap before Finn  Valley’s Mark McPaul and Dermot McElchar took up the initiative.

Only Matt Doherty was able to respond. While some may have questioned his attitude in the past, he answered his critics admirably with the most tenacious performance of his career to date.

The 19-year-old Bogside man never faltered and still looked as though he could snatch the individual gold well into the last lap of the six-kilometre test.

The fighting third place was well earned by Doherty who promises to make a big impact over the winter season.

David Gormley also ran out of his skin to finish a close up fourth while Shane McGowan overcame the treacherous underfoot conditions to squeeze into the top ten with an excellent seventh.

Chris Millar, as solid and dependable as ever, held on to take 15th and ensure silver team medals behind a very impressive Finn Valley squad.

Adrian Boyle (34th), Conor McIlveen (56th) and David Mellon (72nd) played valuable roles in backing up the four scorers.

Lily Toorish had the best result of the DTC juveniles at the Ulster Uneven Age Groups Championships taking 8th in the U15 Girls’ race.  Kayla MCLaughlin (35th) and Lora Smailes (59th) performed well further down the field.

Sean McIntyre was 34th in the U17 Boys’ race ahead of Ben Bradley (55th).  Ben Mellon showed improvement with a 39th placing in the U15 Boy’s contest.

 

28 October 2016.

John-Paul Williamson was the leading finisher as Derry Track Club athletes made their presence felt at the Spooktacular 5K Road Race in Enniskillen.

The former US college athlete showed he is settling back in local competition with a fine runner-up spot in 15 minutes and eight seconds.

Winner of the race was Foyle Valley’s Scott Rankin who set a race record of 14:55 on a new one lap course around the centre of Enniskillen.

The next three finishers were all from Derry Track Club with Conán McCaughey (15:13) grabbing the final podium place from Conor Doherty (15:58) and Matt Doherty (16:17).

Marina Murphy (19:08) was second lady across the line in 19:08 with a number of other DTC athletes recording impressive times and category prizes.

Details: David Gormley (16:34), Cathal McLaughlin (3rd M40/17:35), Sean McIntyre (1st U18/18:05), Brandon Connolly (18:55), Kevin Connolly (19:01), Conor McIlveen (19:05),  Marina Murphy (19:08), Ben Mellon (19:18), Ben Bradley (20:48), David Mellon (21:02), Lily Toorish (1st U18/21:34), Kayla McLaughlin (3rd U18/21:34), Malcolm McCausland (3rd M60/22:10) and Dean Quigley (22:17).