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ANTRIM    INTERNATIONAL    CROSS    COUNTRY

Congratulations to Barry Kelly, Conor Meyler and Eamon Logue who were third team in the Under 15 Boys race at the International Cross Country in Antrim.

                                     GREENCASTLE   5  MILE

The annual Greencastle 5 mile road race once again attracted a huge crowd of walkers, fun runners and the serious athletes. With almost perfect conditions this was always going to be a real Christmas cracker, with top class athletes such as Gareth Turnbull, Stevie Duncan, Stephen Scullion, Paul Rowan, Dermot Grant and Paul Pollock all on the starting line plus many more fine athletes also looking for some fast times and perhaps upset a few rankings.

After a very fast start Turnbull, Duncan, Pollock, Taylor and Grant formed the leading pack just opening up a slight gap of a few meters from the next contending bunch. Omagh’s Noel Collins was also well placed in the second bunch of chasing athletes although he faded over the final mile of the race.  However it was the strength of Turnbull which showed as this top athlete pulled away and won by over 400m after a powerful up hill run and then cruising to yet again another notable victory. Second place saw a thrilling finish between Omagh’s Stevie Duncan and North Belfast’s Stephen Scullion. Shoulder to shoulder with only 200m left Duncan kicked to take second spot from one of Northern Ireland top steeplechasers.  Paul Rowan finished 4^th and took first over 40 category.

Jason Walsh was second runner home for the Harriers with Noel Collins, Marty Mc Laughlin, Marty Cox and Andrew Fisher all following in a close bunch behind.

In the Ladies race Maria Cambridge was a clear winner while Clare Connor finished 2^nd and Abbey AC athlete Judi Graham took 3^rd place.

Sara Moore was the first female home for the Harriers and easily winning the Under 20 category in the process with Patricia Campbell next in, followed by Angeline Mc. Cain and Claire Lawn.  In the Under 20 junior men category Noel Collins took the honors while young harrier Barry Kelly took 2^{nd .}

North West Cross Country Championships  Gransha.

                         Ladies take Team Title.

A full squad of Harriers travelled to Gransha L/ Derry for the annual North West Cross Country championships which are held on the Saturday before Christmas.

First up was Eamon Logue competing in the boys under 14 events.  Young Eamon put in a good performance finishing 4^th overall.

Barry Kelly moved up to the boys under 17 and although well outside his normal age group ran an excellent race to finish 3^rd.

The main race of the day saw the senior men and ladies compete over a demanding course. The Harriers men’s team consisting of Noel Collins, Marty Cox, Jason Walsh, Andrew Fisher, Conor Moore, James Speight and Marty Mc Laughlin ran well but could not over come the strength of City of Derry 1st or Letterkenny2nd and had to settle for 3^rd placing.

The Ladies team went to the championships as one of the favourites to lift the title.

All Ireland mountain champion Angela Speight took the female under 20 title and  led the Harriers home with Julie Butler 1^st over 35, Helen Stockdale 1^st over 40, Kelly Anne Speight, Marie Therese Speight Patricia Campbell and Claire Lawn all running strongly and in doing so lifted the women’s team title for the first time in the history of the competition.

ULSTER    AND    NORTHERN    IRELAND    MEDALS     FOR    OMAGH    HARRIERS

The Ulster Novice and Uneven Age Group Championships were held at the Finn Valley Athletic Centre in Stranorlar recently with Omagh Harriers fielding athletes in a number of categories.

First up for the club in the Under 15 Girls race were Sara Moore, Meabh  Mc. Elduff, Cara Durnion and Kate Ballard. All girls ran well over the muddy, wet course and despite losing a shoe mid way through the race Sara Moore managed to finish 11^th in an extremely competitive race to claim an Ulster medal.

Next up in the Boys Under 15 race were Barry Kelly and Eamon Logue with Barry also managing a fine 11^th place finish to earn the clubs second Ulster medal of the day with young Logue finishing strongly in the top half of the field of over seventy athletes.

The Mens Under 19 race was always going to be extremely competitive with the local club up against the might of the host club Finn Valley and St. Malachys A.C. The early pace was set by Milfords Dan King, Omaghs Noel Collins and Finn Valleys Darren Mc. Glinchey and throughout the tough five lap course these three dominated the top three positions. It wasn’t until the closing two laps that Dan King started to edge away from Collins and Mc.Glinchey. At one stage Collins found himself in third place but showed great fighting spirit in the last lap to overhaul Mc.Glinchey with a fine sprint finish over the final 200 metres to claim the runner up spot and pick up a well deserved Ulster medal. Conor Moore and James Speight both put in gutsy performances to try and help the club pick up team medals but with Andrew Fisher having to drop out with one and a half laps to go that was never going to happen.

The Novice Ladies team of Marie Therese Speight, Hazel  A Mc.Causland, Claire Lawn and Sabine Fritz all ran bravely over the course  but were unable to get themselves into medal contention on the day.

In the Novice Mens race the club were only able to field three runners, Martin Mc.Laughlin, Terry Canning and Mark Gray, with Mc.Laughlin as ever putting in a very strong dependable run and Canning showing he can produce a fine performance when needed and shows he has great potential to improve over the coming months with Mark Gray also putting in a strong run for the club

MARATHON   RESULTS

Two Omagh  Harriers were in action in recent weeks with Jason Walsh competing in the Dublin marathon finishing in an excellent time of  2 hrs 49 mins and Helen Stockdale posting a time of 3 hrs 25 mins for a very tough New York marathon and finishing 2^nd Open Ireland Female athlete home.

All members are reminded that the AGM will be held in the Silver Birches on Thursday 27th Nov 2008.  at 7.30pm   It is important that all club members attend this meeting.

IMPORTANT NEWS.

OMAGH HARRIERS AGM SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY 20TH NOVEMBER HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL THURSDAY 27TH NOVEMBER.  THE AGM WILL BE HELD IN THE SILVERBIRCH HOTEL OMAGH.