McGowan shines in golden national indoors victory

Elsewhere three of the senior Spartans, James Brown, Declan Reed and Diarmuid Grant all claimed the runners up spots at 10K road races in Letterkenny and Altnamuskin County Tyrone and at the Larne Half Marathon.

Just a week after his Irish Schools cross country individual bronze in Dublin, Shane McGowan showed his versatility and aboundant talent with a storming gun to tape 1500 metres Indoors victory in Magherafelt.

His 4 minutes and 19.44 seconds clocking got him home well clear and bodes well for the upcoming outdoor Schools and Club season.

Before that however he will represent Ireland in this weekends Aviva Schools International cross country in Antrim where he will go in the Junior Boys 4500 metres race against the best English, Scots, Welsh and of course his Irish team mates.

Mark McGarvey yet again also showed his ability with double silver in Magherafelt, claiming the runners up spot in both the 60 metre flat and 60 metre Hurdles at U18 level. A new 60 metre flat personal best of 7.27 seconds just failed to get gold and he was also close in the Hurdles.

Ryan McParland at U17 level also took 60 metre flat silver and there was an excellent Girls U16 bronze for Ciara Armstrong in her 60 metre sprint final. Emma Gee made her final Schools Indoors appearance a memorable one with a silver medal in a tightly contested Girls U19 Hurdles final to round off the Spartans medal tally.

Diarmiud Grant’s runners up spot to St Malachy’s Joe McAlister at Saturday’s Larne Half Marathon which attracted a massive 1239 finishers, was argueably the best road performance by local runners in the last few days.

The Belfast based former St Columbs College star is in training for the Belfast marathon and ran an encouraging 69 minutes and 47 seconds for second behind the more experienced McAlister who got away in the second half of the race to win in 69 minutes and 14 seconds. These two were the class acts in the field with the Spartan finishing almost two minutes ahead of Davide Figueirero of Monaghan Phoenix AC.

Emmet McGinty was fifth on 74 minutes and 29 seconds; his father Damien ninth on 76 minutes and 8 seconds to claim the M50 honours; James Crampsey 14th on 78 minutes dead was second M40 and completing a top twenty finish was Gerry Duddy with 78 minutes and 42 seconds for 18th. Sammy McAnaney in 31st was the top M55 with a 80 minutes and 19 seconds clocking to notch another age group award for local finishers. North Belfast Harrier Sharon Bird ran 80 minutes and 5 seconds to take the leading female honours.

Closer to home on St Patricks Day James Brown was an impressive second behind Michael Black of the promoting club in the Letterkenny 5K. The winner ran 16 minutes and 19 seconds, breaking clear of a five man group in the closing stages with the new City of Derry recruit Brown, six seconds in arrears on 16 minutes and 25 seconds, as four seconds seperated second and fifth as they sprinted for the line.

The red vest later claimed that his new training regime was behind his new found speed as he outkicked Paul McGlinchey, Kevin Ferry and Gavin Stevenson. Helena Crossan ran 18 minutes and 24 seconds for the womens win and Christy McMonagle finished just behind Letterkenny’s Kevin Toner in around 20 minutes.

Finally Omagh Harrier Stephen Duncan made it two wins out of two in the Run West Series at Altnamuskin in Tyrone as he posted a speedy 31 minutes and 52 seconds for the hilly 10K, also on St Patricks Day. This was good enough to finish ahead of Declan Reed on 33 minutes and 37 seconds and Chris McPeake of Sperrin Harriers on 35 minutes and 12 seconds as over 300 finishers were recorded.

Newcastle AC star Kerry Harty was in a classs of her own, finishing fourth overall in 36 minutes and 17 seconds, well ahead of Omagh’s Julie Butler on 39 minutes and 21 seconds and City of Derry’s Anne Paul, back again after injury, posted 40 minutes and 35 seconds to take the F40 honours.

Race three in the Finn Valley 5K Series is in Stranorlar this Friday evening at 7pm and the Phoenix 6 miler is on Saturday morning, at 10.30am in Cookstown.

The aforementioned Home Countries cross country is at Antrim on Saturday and JP Williamson has been selected on the NI Mens U20 squad. As he has just resumed training after a short break his participation in in doubt but Shane McGowan is a definite for the Schools Junior Boys race.

Gregory Roberts hopes to travel for the classy Dunboyne 4 mile road race on Sunday and could be joined by a few other locals.

The Collon Lane man is gearing up for next months National 10K road championship in Dublin where City of Derry hope to field strong teams in the Senior mens, Masters 40 and Masters 50 categories.

Meanwhile the 2011 edition of the popular Furey Insurances 5K Series is set to be launched today (Wednesday), in advance of the opening race on the Bay Road circuit on Wednesday, April 20.