Bronze Team Prize- Dolores Quinn First Waterside Lady.

The wind battered the North West on Saturday and Sunday and there was no respite on Sunday morning for the 30th Anniversary Waterside Half Marathon. This is the official Northern Ireland Half marathon championship and drew a high class field from all over the North. The conditions were very tough and really all the runners, walkers, officials and spectators particularly those exposed for the longest time out on the course.
Defending men’s champion Stephen Duncan produced a quite stunning 67m 56s winning effort to complete the three in a row. He was followed home in 69m 31s by Stephen Scullion of North Belfast Harriers with City of Derrys Declan Reed posting a new PB of 70m 20s for an excellent third place.

Julie Balmer (84:12) of North Down fought out a battle to finish ahead of Inishowen’s Helena Crossan(84:25)to claim women’s crown with defending champion Anne Paul of City of Derry (86:03) in third.
It was generally agreed that while parts of the route around the Invista site was tough, Mile 12 on the ‘wind tunnel’ that was the dual carriageway was the toughest part at the toughest time of the race. It wasn’t all doom and gloom though and amidst the many stories from an event with almost 1500 participants across fun run, walk and half marathon, Foyle Valley had no shortage of things to look back on with pride:
Our own Dolores Quinn was the first Waterside female home in a terrific time of 95:42. Debutant Paddy Mahon turned heads with a stunning time of 81:48 and is definitely one for the future. Nicholas Mullen produced a run he has been threatening for a long time to get to the 85min mark. Foyle Valley took bronze in the men’s team event, just ahead of Omagh, Letterkenny and Inishowen. Pius (Zone 1) McIntyre led from the front with a fantastic controlled display of running finishing in 12th spot in a new PB of 75:31. A tough training regime over the summer gave its reward for Cathal McLaughlin (76:28) and Chris McGuinness (77:54) who improved their PBs by 4 and 7 minutes respectively and helped secure the bronze.

Twenty one Foyle Valley athletes broke the magic 90 minute mark and there were some terrific tussles with Ciaran Smith getting bragging rights over Ciaran Graham, Teague Whoriskey and Marty Dunleavy. Ryan Snodgrass and Brian Kelly warmed up nicely for Dublin with assured runs
Special mention to Harry, Lisa, Jennifer, Maura and Joan who suffered the most in the elements with bravery, grace and good humor.  Another great day and a great turnout from Foyle Valley