Doherty wins Derry 10 Mile race

US-based Finn Valley AC athlete Sophia Thompson continues to raise eyebrows across the Atlantic.
On Sunday, Sophia, a student at Union Catholic, was fifth in the 1 Mile Championship race at the New Balance Nationals in Boston.
Sophia finished in 4:41.89 – a time that is less than 2 seconds off the Donegal senior record for an indoor mile.
Sophia was off the back of a stunning display with the Union Catholic distance medley relay team on Friday night at the same Championships.
Her father Terry hails from Letterkenny and her mother Pearl Chambers is a native of Derry.
On Friday night, Sophia ran a 1600m leg as Union Catholic shattered the US High School Distance Medley Relay record to take gold.
Sophia broke the tape for UC after an excellent 4:41.58 1600m leg with her team taking the fastest split for each leg.
Sophia was joined by Paige Sheppard 1200m (3:19.27), Sydney Chadwick 400m (55.31) and Abigail Robisky 800m (2:09.98).
The time shaved 11 seconds off the previous US best and Sophia is now firmly in the picture for the World U20 Athletics Championships, which take place in August in the US.
This week, Mark English is off to Torun, Poland for the World Athletics Indoor Championships.
After his latest period of altitude training in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Mark will line up in Friday’s 800m heats.
This year so far, he has lowered his own Irish indoor 800m record twice – going to 1:44.23 in Ostrava last month. His 2026 has also included the setting of a new Irish indoor 600m record, 1:15.80.
The National U23 and U20 Indoor Championships took place in Athlone on Saturday.
The highlight there from a Finn Valley AC perspective was the gold won by Joseph Gillespie.
Joseph landed gold in the U23 triple jump. Having won a bronze at the recent seniors, Joseph jumped to 13.71m on Saturday to earn the gold medal.
Amy Greene won bronze in the U23 1500m, crossing the line in 4:41.17 with Sally McMenamin eighth in the same race in 5:24.97.
Stephen Slevin came fourth in the U20 high jump, arching over the bar at 1.75m but edged out of the medal placings on a countback. Stephen also jumped to 10.57m in the triple jump.
Amy Timoney was fifth in the U20 60m final in 7.77 seconds after a 7.81 heat.
Katie Louise McMonagle was fifth in the U20 long jump, going out to a best of 5.16m.
Ace Rodriguez was third in a 200m heat in 24.31 and fourth in a 60m heat in 7.46 while Lauren McConnell was third in a 200m heat, going 27.14.
At the National Master Indoor Championships in Athlone on Sunday, Catriona Devine of Finn Valley AC retained her W50 1500m gold.
Catriona won in 5:01.62 for her latest national medal and her focus will swifty turn to the European Indoor Masters which are taking place in Torun, Poland at the end of March.
Bosco Reid won silver in the M65 shot, throwing out a best of 10.24m, just 4cm away from gold medal winner John Sheehan (Dooneen AC).
There were two bronze medals Frankie Murray, who was third in the M65 200m, finishing in 32.60 seconds and he also placed third in the 60m thanks to a 9.63-second run.
Finn Valley AC man John Joe Doherty won the Derry 10 Mile on Saturday..
John Joe led the way around the Maiden City in 52:47, winning from Conal McGinley (53:34) and Stephen Pickering (53:42).
Leoni Cooke was the fifth woman across the finish line – and the leading F40 – coming home in 61:25. Gerard Gallagher and Barry Gallagher also finished just a few seconds apart.
Michelle McMenamin, Michael Gallagher, Liam McGinty, Finola McGahern, Lisa McElchar and Corey Duffy from the Finn Valley AC Fit4Life group also competed.