Foyle Valley's Pius McIntyre ran a superb race in very testing conditions on Saturday to win the latest leg of the Sperrin Harriers Winter League at An Creagan Country Park in the foothills of the Sperrins.

One hundred and fourteen runners tackled this testing five mile course on a very cold, windy, and often wet course which served as the fourth instalment of the very successful Sperrin Harriers Winter League. McIntyre led from start to finish posting an excellent time of 27 minutes and 52 seconds, some 49 seconds in front of second place Erin McDaid from Armagh AC, with Omagh Harriers Connor Moore third in 28 minutes and 56 seconds.

This now leaves the young Foyle Valley athlete in a very commanding position to take the overall league title following on from his equally impressive victory on the first 10 mile race of the series at Lough Fea back in November. The two lap course on Saturday really suited McIntyre and he settled in to a very steady pace from the outset and even maintained that pace when the very strong wind prevalent on the course almost stopped the majority of runners in their stride!

Two other Foyle Valley athletes tackled the race with mixed fortunes on the day. Ciaran Smith ran a very strong race to finish twenty second in a time of 32 minutes and 29 seconds, a time that really impressed given the very windy conditions and the increased mileage in Ciaran's legs as he prepares for the London Marathon this April. Billy Orr had a flare up of a previous injury during the race and recorded a time of 35 minutes and 33 seconds, hopefully without causing too much long term harm. However, Smith and Orr can take heart from the fact that the times they posted on the same course back in October during the first race of the series were significantly quicker than Saturday's and these will be the times that will be recorded in their overall aggregate time.

Another local athlete, Daniel Quigley, who focuses primarily on triathlons travelled to this event with McIntryre and ran an excellent race in 30 minutes and 55 seconds for ninth place. City of Derry's Ann Paul continued her return to full race fitness following injury by taking first place in the overall female category in a time of 32 minutes 14 seconds.

A total of 6 races are organised in the series, two 10 milers, two 10k's and two 5 milers with each runner having to complete each distance once. Their times will then be added together and the runner with the lowest cumulative time will be declared the winner. The next race in the series takes place around Drum Forest, Cookstown, on 4th February. All three Foyle Valley athletes who raced on Saturday need to record times in this 10K race to be included in the series results, and should McIntyre make it "three in a row" then this years title will be very difficult to wrestle from him.

Congratulations again to Sperrin Harriers for another very well run event, including chip timing, and the full results are available on their website.

Club Persons of the Year

Dolores and Pius were recognised by their club colleagues as having made significant contributions to Foyle Valley Athletics Club during 2011. This was not only for their noteworthy achievements in running during the year but also their commitment to training and the example they set to those who ran and trained with them all year.

Raphoe 5K

Under the starters orders of local Councillor and former Lifford AC athlete, Frank McBrearty, athletes made their way around a new race route in the town, ending up in the Diamond area. Foyle Valley’s Keith Shiels was first man home, completing the 5k route in 16.51. Letterkenny’s Humphrey Murphy was second man home, finishing in 17.37, just coming home ahead of Foyle Valley’s Patrick Mahon 17.37, with Lifford pair Daniel Hannigan (17.42) and James Crossan (17.45).In the Women’s senior race, Catherine Lilburn was victorious, followed by Foyle Valley AC's Gemma McGinty, and Finn Valley’s Samantha Wilkinson (24.50) in third.