Fintra Strand at Killybegs proved an ideal and testing layout for the Ulster underage and Novice cross country championships.  A late venue change from the home of Finn Valley, the challenge of a sand based venue gave no more respite than the traditional soft grass/mud options usually experienced by the cross country fraternity and despite a day of continuous driving rain, a great day of racing was witnessed by all.

Early highlights for Derry were Clodagh Laverty’s fourth place in the under 12 girls, a tremendous performance from a proven athletic Derry dynasty. U12 Boys were dominated by Donegal’s Finn Valley taking 4 of the top five positions. There were great performances from Donegal, Down and Antrim at the girls U-14 where Foyle Valleys’ Aoife Graham put in a battling performance on her cross –country debut. There is much more to come from this up and coming star, showing great signs in training.

 The Boys U-14 was another high calibre race where all counties featured but with Donegal athletes being particularly strong.  First prize went to Antrim’s Kieran O’Reilly a deluge of Down and Donegal athletes tumbled over the line close behind

Antrim dominated the girls U-16 but thankfully Derry’s Aoife Laverty shone with a superb second place finish and kept the Oak leaf flag flying while Antrim particularly and also Donegal ruled the roost at the U-16 boys.

Amy Jackson’s 3rd place finish in the U-18 was a welcome lift for Derry athletics in a day dominated up to that point by others. The City of Derry athlete finished strongly to bring some more pride to a day that threatened to slip away as the big guns of Antrim, Donegal and Down dominated. The U-18 Boys, despite the best efforts of City of Derry’s Matthew Foland was again dominated by Donegal and Down.

 By the time of the Novice ladies race and with the pessimistic local media predictions beforehand it appeared that the hopes of the various outfits from Willowfield, Finn Valley, Omagh, Letterkenny and Finn Valley would continue the hopes of the local Derry athletes would be dashed.

This was not to be. With wonderful support from the combined City of Derry and Foyle Valley contingents, there proved a turning point for Derry’s performances with superb performances from Foyle Valley’s Dolores Quinn taking individual bonze and for City of Derry’s fast finishing Catherine Lilburn and Foyle Valley’s stalwart Rosie O’Brien. These performances raised the hopes of the noisy Derry support which were superbly reinforced by Foyle Valley’s Martina McMullen emphatic tenth place finish to close the deal and bring the ladies novice title back to Derry this time through Foyle Valley and further improve the status of local athletics on a national stage.

The final race of the day was the Novice men’s race. Again the odds were on the heavy pre-race favourites from Letterkenny’s and also the local Finn Valley team were expected by all knowledgeable pundits to dominate and bring the Novice title to Donegal. This did not bode well for any Derry chances. At the off it seemed that that the pundits were correct with both Letterkenny and Finn Valley dominating the early stages of the race. However as the race wore on and the pace and terrain took their tole, the heart and desire of the Derry athletes shown through. City of Derry’s JP Williamson struck an early blow with a superb individual 2nd place and against all odds Derry’s Foyle Valley defied all expectations with a series of exceptional runs from Scott Rankin (5th), veteran Cathal McLaughlin (9th), strong finishing Chris McGuinness (10th) and Pius McIntyre (16th) who fought every inch of the way to the line and relegated Finn Valley to runners up spot by one place in an ultra-competitive race.

The bravery of these performances secured historic wins for Foyle Valley and retained both the ladies and men titles in Derry for a second consecutive year. The challenge has to be now to encourage athletics at a younger level within the Oak leaf County and prepare the next generation for the athletic battles ahead.

Foyle Valley is an all ability club who value people above performance. Three men’s teams competed in the men’s novice and two ladies teams in the ladies novice. The club welcomes all would- be or wannabe athletes. Please check out our website  (www.foylevalleyac.com) come join us at training, get fit and give an example for the next generation of athletes to represent Derry.