Finn Valley T&F

Last evening a small group of Sligo AC juvenile athletes travelled to Finn Valley in Stranorlar to test them against Donegal’s finest in track and field. Starting from our youngest competitor Aoife Morrison who competed in the 80 meters and the 600metres. Aoife finished 2nd in her heat and qualified for the final where she finished 5th in a highly competitive field. Later in the 600metres Aoife went better still claiming the silver medal with a well paced run working her way through the field and sprinting home over the final 200m metres top claim he just rewards. Aoife completed the 600metres in 2 minutes flat, which is a fantastic time as a strong wind was in the runners face for most of the race. Stacy Kerr showed he class yet again winning her U16 100metres heat in a personal best of 12.36 and the final in 12.56 easing up in the final stages saving herself for her first time over 300 metres in preparation for the Connaught schools next Wednesday. Stacy ran in the over 16s 300metres and finished second to Sligo AC’s other competitor in the race Emily Burns. Emily ran 40seconds with Stacy running a 44seconds 300. So well done to both girls, who again had to run head on into a strong wind for 150 metres. The boys Graham Kerr and Graham Bourke both ran the U16 100metres, with Graham Kerr (running 2 years above his age group) recording a personal best time of 12.66 and Graham Bourke close behind in 13.40. Graham Bourke is a recent addition to Sligo AC and the experience he is picking up form the national indoors and these outdoor events have helped him improve as an athlete and we will see more from him in the coming seasons. The tow Grahams jumped into the over 16’s 300 meters for “the crack” and both ran well again first time over the distance. This race however was a head to head form the gun between Sligo AC’s Zak Irwin and North Sligo’s Kieran Elliott. Zak took an early lead but Kieran experience of the longer distance told in the final 50meters as he clawed back the lead to finish narrowly ahead of Zak in a time of 36 seconds. Caolaoin McGonagall took silver in the U16 800 metres running a fine race, mixed in with the over 16 boys. In the walks Orla Delahunt and Robbie Kelly both had good walks over 1500 taking top prizes. Finally James Mc Geough ran the 3,000 finishing 4th in a super time of 9minutes 56seconds.The 7 lap race was again run into a strong headwind for 200metres of every lap so this was fantastic running for James who has put in great winters training and I am sure he will reap the rewards over the coming months. So well done to all our athletes and North Sligo’s too who represented their clubs last evening Well done to all in Finn Valley who ran a well organised event.