Donegal Masters shine at NI Track and Field Championships

Donegal athletes had a medal-laden trip to the NI Masters Track and Field Championships on Saturday.

In difficult conditions at the Mary Peters Track in Belfast, there were some notable performances to go along with the medal haul.

Letterkenny AC sprinter Kathryn McDevitt hit a new personal best to win the W40 400m gold. McDevitt stopped the clock at 60.65 seconds, staving off Olympian YAC’s Karen O’Donnell, who finished in 63.69 seconds for silver.

McDevitt was also the 200m gold medallist, her 27.06 seconds edging out Rosses AC’s Nicole O’Donnell, whose 27.27 seconds represented a PB. Omagh athlete Leona Garrity was the bronze medallist there in 27.94 seconds, ahead of Karen O’Donnell in fourth.

Limited fuss as St Eunan's defeat St Naul's to get SFC bid underway

Conor O'Donnell junior scored six points as St Eunan's, the beaten finalists last year, defeated St Naul's at O'Donnell Park on an evening when the teams swapped two goals in added time,

Karen O’Donnell took silver in the W40 javelin, throwing out to 20.21m.

Nicole O’Donnell landed the 100m honours, winning in 13.27 seconds with Karen O’Donnell earning silver via a 13.69-second run.

Karen O’Donnell’s brother Martin won the M45 shot when firing out to 7.63m. He added 100m and weight throw silvers and added bronze medals rom his 200m sprint and javelin events.

Nicole O'Donnell and Aidan Gillespie from Rosses AC.

Bosco Reid won four golds and a silver. The Finn Valley AC thrower struck gold in the M60 hammer when reaching a best distance of 34.72m.

Reid added golds in the javelin (26.76m), shot (11.44m) and weight for distance (12.60m) with a 36.47m effort adding a silver in the discus for good measure.

Lifford-Strabane AC’s Damian Crawford left with three golds, a silver and a bronze.  Crawford won the M50 weight throw (12.43m), javelin (43.40m) and hammer (31.73m) throws, with silver in the shot (11.19m) and discus bronze (32.78m).

Inishowen AC’s multi-eventer Martin Mooney won gold in the M40 triple jump with an 8.15m leap. Mooney was the leading M40 athlete over the 110m hurdles in 21.98 seconds.

Karen O'Donnell and Martin O'Donnell.

Mooney also won silvers in the hammer (17.72m) and weight throw (6.47m) events, adding bronze in the javelin and shot put.

Catriona Devine from Finn Valley AC eased to gold in the W45 1500. The Castlefin woman finished in 5:09.67 to follow on from her National Masters success.

Roses AC’s Aidan Gillespie bagged a jumps double, taking the M50 golds in the long (5.07m) and high (1.55m).

Shane Toolan of Tir Chonaill AC won a sprints double, bagging the M65 200m gold medal and the 100m gold.

Tir Chonaill AC’s Martin Cunningham took silver in the M45 800m in 2:03.97. His club colleague John Cannon was the M65 silver medallist in both the 800m and 1500m.

In the mixed 3k walk, Letterkenny AC’s Danny Sharkey was second overall in 21:01.49 and was the leading M60 competitor.

Liam Bradley from Inishowen AC took silver in the M50 1500m and Finn Valley AC’s Garvin Boyce was the fourth M50 over 1500m.