There was golden delight for Finn Valley AC’s Odhran McBrearty and Ceola McGlinchey at the National Juvenile Championships at the weekend.
Odhran slammed home in 9:03.14 to take victory in the U19 3000m. The Finn Valley lad won from Harry Cahill, the Donore Harriers AC lad finishing in 9:04.30.
It was a fine win for Odhran, adding his latest national medal to his sideboard. Andrew Hinds of Togher AC was third in 9:05.38.
Ceola took gold in the U13 high jump. The Aghyaran girl cleared 1.43m to take victory ahead of Lucy Walsh of Cabinteely AC and Isa O’Brien of Ardmore AC, both of whom got over 1.40m.
While they knocked the bar at 1.43m, Ceola – on her third visit – got the heels over, landing her a memorable gold. She also competed in the long jump, going to 4.49m for eighth.
In the U13 600m Zach McKinley turned in a superb performance to earn silver.
The race was won by City of Derry athlete Lukas Janosik in a new Championship best of 1:32.46.
McKinley pushed Janosik all the way and the Newtowncunningham lad’s 1:34.99 finishing time was also below the previous championship best performance.
Tara Rose Smith, having something of a breakout season in 2026, claimed the silver medal in the U17 800m. Smith clocked 2:11.47 to finish behind only the gold medal winner, West Waterford’s Isabelle Gaffney (2:10.34), and ahead of Madison Welby from City of Lisburn (2:12.53), who took bronze.
Miller McCrossan was fifth in the U13 80m, running 10.73 seconds in the final and Sheridan McMonagle, also of Finn Valley, placed fifth in the U15 100m, landing a new PB of 12.93 in the process. Sheridan was also seventh in the U15 long jump, leaping to 4.81m.
Aimee McElchar was seventh in the U17 3000m in 11:13.37; Sophie Coulter was ninth in the U16 javelin, going to 16.67m; Odhran Rogers was fifth in an U18 800m heat in 2:03.91; Sorcha Cunningham ran a 1:54 in the U13 600m; Even Maguire was 13th in the U13 long jump with a 4.30m jump; Dualta McNabb had an 11.58-second PB in the U13 60m hurdles and was also in long jump and high jump action; Eve Maguire and Fia McNulty competed in the U13 80m; Liam Patton was eighth in the long jump; Sophia Henderson was 12th in the javelin; and Tia Flinter made her national championship debut in the triple jump.
The club was represented around the New Mills 10k on Sunday.
New recruit Finbar Allan led the way for the Finn Valley AC contingent, the Raphoe man placing 11th in 36:08.
Next up was Shaun Hannigan in 12th, crossing the line in 36:19 while Darren Toland secured a top 20 finish finishing in 37:11.
Also in action were Peter McMenamin (40:29), Kieran Melaugh (41:29), Kay Byrne (42:55 and the leading F60), Stephen O’Mahoney (54:28); Sonya O’Donnell (57:57) and John Griffin (57:57).
Finn Valley AC duo Oisin Toye and Nadine McIntyre were victorious on Friday night at the Paul Murray 5K. Oisin clocked 15:24 and was the overall race winner with Nadine the first woman to finish, going 17:47.
Finn Valley AC athlete Amy Greene competed last Wednesday at the Dublin Graded Meet. Over 1500m at Morton Stadium, Amy finished sixth in 4:34.21.
Tara Rose Smith was also in action there, clocking 57.01 seconds in a 400m.
There was an Irish vest for Finn Valley AC athlete Ciaran McCarroll who ran in an Irish 4x400m relay team. At the Dublin Graded Meet, Ciaran was part of a quartet attempting a World U20 Q time. Alas it wasn’t to be as the lads finished in 3:17.16. Ciaran was joined by Des O’Neill, Andrew Hynes and Ethan Dewhirst.
Lauren Callaghan took victory last week in Slovakia.Competing in the TIPOS Atletické Kritérium SNP at the Banská Bystrica, Lauren won with a best leap of 6.38m.
Eilish Flanagan completed over a mile in Los Angeles on Sunday, clocking 4:45 for seventh while Mark English concluded this block of racing with a 1:45.70 in Zagreb as he now returns to altitude in the Sierra Nevada mountains ahead of the European Athletics Championships in August.