Podium finishes for Whoriskey & McGuinness

There were podium places for Catherine Whoriskey and Chris McGuinness at the Donegal venue and the City of Derry and Olympian squads did well in Sligo at the National League second round fixture.

Catherine Whoriskey was in good form last Friday night as she convincingly won the Rathmullan 5K, her 18 minutes and 15 seconds clocking, very close to if not a new road PB, giving the Spartan a 40 second cushion over runner up Angela Speight of Finn Valley, and Foyle Valley’s Chris McGuinness was involved in a much closer mens race, taking third place with a 15 minutes and 34 seconds effort, a mere two seconds behind Finn Valley pair James Speight and a further six seconds, from winner Gerard Gallagher’s 15 minutes and 26 seconds.

The popular Rathmullan race attracted well over 200 starters including a big Londonderry contingent and they certainly made their presence felt with the brace of Open race podium places supplemented by some good age group performances.

Paul McCafferty was ninth overall and a close runner up in the M40 age category with his 16 minutes and 36 seconds run, just 7 seconds behind Letterkenny’s Kevin Ferry. Peter Lilburn won the M50 award with 18 minutes and 28 seconds and Christy McMonagle, deep in training for the National Half Marathon ran 21 minutes and 53 seconds for second in the M60 age group.

Marina Campbell made a welcome return to competition, her 19 minutes and 11 seconds run placing her fourth overall but upgraded to third in the Open race as Clones athlete Helen Stockdale finished just ahead in 19 minutes and 05 seconds to claim the F45 award.

Like Whoriskey she has been working her way back to race fitness and both athletes look to be in a good place in advance of the new cross country season.

Meanwhile Sligo hosted the crucial second round National League fixture on a very hot and sunny Sunday and the two local clubs in action worked hard to maximise their points totals in their respective Divisions.

In the Womens Premier division the Spartans improved significantly on their first round performance and despite yet again not fielding at full strength, a provisional points haul of 96 seems to have guaranteed them another season in the top division.

Olympian were involved in the Mens and Womens Division One competitions and like their city rivals battled hard over a long, hot day but final positions were again not immediately available.

The results from the other pool match in Cork will have to be quantified before the final standings in both Divisions can be confirmed so the clubs must wait for the Athletics Ireland officials to forward the paperwork.