Kelly McGrory named as Donegal athlete of the year for 2023

World finalist Kelly McGrory has been named as the Donegal athlete of the year for 2023.

The Tir Chonaill AC woman, who ran in the world 4x400m final in Budapest, is the winner of the top gong this year.

The awards are voted on by the Donegal Athletics Board.

McGrory was also named as the senior female athlete of the year with Mark English (Finn Valley AC) taking the senior male athlete of the year award.

Tir Chonaill AC’s Fintan Dewhirst and Hannah Murray of Finn Valley AC - who both competed at the European Under-20 Championships - take the junior awards with Pauric McKinney (Inishowen AC) and Kathryn McDevitt (Letterkenny AC) named as the masters athletes of the year.

Eighth-place finish for Mark English in Italy

The Finn Valley AC man was competing at the Palio Citta' della Quercia in Rovereto.

McGrory ran the third leg for the Ireland 4x400m women’s relay team that finished eighth at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Having defied the odds to reach the final, the Irish quartet of Sophie Becker, Roisin Harrison, McGrory and Sharlene Mawdsley clocked 3:27.08 to finish eighth having been just 0.12 of a second outside the Irish record when going 3:26.18 in their semi-final.

“It was phenomenal,” Laghey woman McGrory said of the experience. “The final was a different ball game. There was a lot of navigating and a lot of thinking mid-race.”

Prior to the World Championships, McGrory took silver in the 400m hurdles at the National Senior Championships in Santry.

English clocked a season’s best 1:45.14 to finish seventh in his semi-final at the World Athletics Championships.

In his heat, the Finn Valley runner clocked what was then a season’s best time of 1:45.71 to finish fourth despite being bumped by Jamaican athlete Navasky Anderson during the first lap.

In February, English roared to the ninth National Indoor title of his career. English won the 800m gold in 1:52.47.

Dewhirst set a new Donegal record of 51.49 seconds over the 400m hurdles at the European Under-20 Championships in Jerusalem.

The Tir Chonaill AC man, who won gold at the National Juvenile Championships, also set a meeting record of 52.16 to win the same event at the Welsh Under-20 International recently.

Finn Valley woman Murray joined Dewhirst in Jerusalem, where she a part of the Irish 4x400m relay team that reached the final, finishing seventh in 3:39.39.

The Irish quartet set a season’s best 3:39.02 in their semi-final. This year, Murray was the 400m gold and 200m silver medalist at the National Juveniles in Tullamore.

McKinney continues to excel and earlier this year won gold in his age category to help Inishowen AC to silver medals at the 123.ie National Intermediate, Masters and Juvenile B Cross Country Championships.

At Gowran Demesne in Kilkenny, McKinney was the leading M55 athlete in 24 minutes and 25 seconds.

At the National 10 Mile in the summer, McKinney took M55 gold when crossing the line in 57:38.

Letterkenny AC sprinter McDevitt helped Ireland to W40 bronze in the 4x200m at the World Masters Indoor Championships in Poland.

That followed her exploits at the 2022 World Masters Athletics Championship in Finland, where she helped Ireland to win the W40 4x100m and 4x400m relays.

This summer, McDevitt set new championship best performances to win the 200m and 400m at the Scottish Masters Athletics Championships.

At Grangemouth, McDevitt clocked 27.32 in the 200m and won the 400m in 62.03.