McMahons Supervalu 5K: WOW what a day we had on Sunday, when Club legend and Monaghan Hall of Fame winner Tony Carville sounded the air horn for the start of the McMahons Supervalu 5K we had 700 people at the start line. People seemed to appear out of nowhere to participate in what is now one of the biggest races in the North East, right from ten o clock when the registration tables were set up there was a flow of people coming and going, the atmosphere around the registration area was fantastic as people mingled, chatted and laughed the time away. When we got down to the serious stuff of running, there was no hanging about as Colin Maher from Ballyfin in County Laois come flying across the finish line in 15.21, followed by Brian McCluskey from the North East Runners with Glenmore’s Shane Tonner coming in 3rd.The first female to cross the line was Amy Hamill from Glaslough Harriers followed by Laura Matthews and Donna Evans. The real race was won by Club Chairperson Stephen Dignam who just out sprinted Damien Hughes down the main street for the second year in a row to be crowd the fastest Faugh, well done also Gavin Kelly was the quickest Under 16 Faugh on the day. The 5K is all about participation and driving a community spirit and it does a great job on both these fronts, we had people who were walking/running their first ever 5K as well as hundreds of people standing at the barriers to cheer all the contestants home. There was a huge crowd in the Glencarn for the question and answers session with Frank Greally, Gerry Duffy, local athlete Tony Ward and Irish 800 metre record holder David Matthews, the talk proved extremely informative and fun. A big thank you and well done goes out to everyone who played a part last Sunday, if you were walking, running, stewarding or watching we would like to thank you all, days like last Sunday show what we as a Club and a community can achieve so well done again to you all.
Operation TransFAUGHSmation: OPTFM is now finally coming to the end but not without one last WHOOOO as everybody gets ready to put those glad rags on for the most important night of the twelve week programme, ”The Awards Night”. The evening will kick off in The Spinning Wheel at 9 pm, with Tom getting everyone to do the plank as they come in, followed by Jazza putting everyone through a Spinning Wheel Bootcamp (only Joking), this is not a night to be missed with fun wards, lots of craic, laughter and music. A big thank you to Damien Hughes for his very generous sponsorship of the evening and also a big thanks you to everyone one who provided what can only be described as the mountain of food for all the runners last Sunday, believe it or believe it not we ended up with only 1 plate of food at the end.
Well Done: This week’s well done goes out all the people who took part last Sunday, it was a cold miserable day but yet people came in their hundreds to attend, a big shout out to the Boys National School who had 80 runners taking part, great to see so many of the Boys completing their first 5K race. Well done also to Rockcorry on winning the Ulster Junior Championship last Sunday, hard luck to our old friends Scotstown who went so close in the Senior decider.
By Majella Boyd Tue 1st Dec
