Morgan storms to victory in Schools Cross Country
HIGHLIGHT of the athletics weekend was the superb victory on Saturday in the Inter Category for Sligo AC’s Michael Morgan at the Irish Schools Cross Country in Waterford.
Michael, who recently turned 15, was representing Summerhill College.
In a fantastic race he beat Louis O’Loughlin (Moyle Park College) and Micheal McCaul (St Colman’s, Newry) with an epic performance. Congratulations were pouring in for the young runner from clubs and fellow athletes with coach Dermot McDermott saying he was speechless. Dermot added: “Massive performance and super result from Michael winning the All Ireland Schools Cross Country. “The Intermediate title can be so hard won with some inter lads being so young but this didn’t stop the recently turned 15 year old grinding down the field for an emphatic win! For once words fail me with this result!”.Michael saw off competition from top-class athletes around the country and this win will go into the history books.
Nearer to home roughly 2,418 took part in the 2018 Cara Bundoran 5K/10mile/10K races. The conditions were not easy with a strong coastal breeze for runners to battle for many parts of the course.
The weekend began with 553 taking part in a 5K on Friday night. The race was won by Martin Cox of Carmen in 15:54. Sligo AC’s Noirin Kelly was 9th Female and second F40 in 23:22. Saturday saw the 10 Mile and 10K races. The 10 Mile race attracted 1200 runners and was won for the second year running by John Travers. The Donore Harriers star led from the start to win in in 53:01. Seamus Somers was the first Sligo AC runner home in 57:05 to earn 8th place and 1st M40. Next Sligo AC athlete was Damien Kennedy who was 18th in 60:50. There were good runs also by Conal Sexton 65:38, Connor Melvin 65:52, Gerry Gilmartin 66:53, Sean Colreavy 68:53, Stephen Gilgan 72:00 ( 5 minutes faster than last year), Brian Kilgannon 76:14 Enda Whelan 76:47(and 3rd M60), Brendan McCarrick 77:19, Fiona Fahey Gilmartin 78:53 (almost 8 minutes faster than last year) Stuart McCandless 80:41, Ann Marie Munnelly 82:18, Kieran Dowd 82:17, Hugh McGowan 82:36, Rachel Dunne 85:03, Enda Gilmartin 87:46, Sheila Devaney 88:15, Tara Savage 89:29, Vanessa Foley 89:30, Rose Young 89:56, Lorena McNicholas 90:03 and Emer Kelly 91:35. The 10k Race had 665 competitors. Big congratulations to Sligo AC’s Audrey Colreavy who was First Female in 40:57. The overall race was won by Marcus McGowan in 37:17. Sligo AC runners filled the next 3 places to complete the top 4. Matthew McMeekin was 2nd in 37:53, Andrew Duffy 3rd in 38:08 while Domhnall Melly in 38:22 was 4th. Well done also to Aoife Kilgannon who was 13th in 41:31 and Aoife Egan who ran 49:04. Saturday also saw Sligo AC Master athletes competing in the AIT Master Championships. James O’Callaghan ran well in the 800M to finish 5th in 2:09, a new PB. John McDermot also had a busy day in the M70 category. John won the 400M in 1:10, the 200M in 30:96 while he was also 2nd in the 60M in 9:00.
On Sunday, Sligo AC runners made the journey to Meath for the Bohermeen Spring Half Marathon. It proved to be a worthwhile trip. Trevor Hunter was first M55 with 87.41, his fastest time since 2010. Bill Carty and Mari Johnston were aiming to go sub 90 minutes and both had great runs with joint new PBs of 88:44. Mari was also 3rd F45.