Lagan Valley wishes all its members and friends a Happy New Year. The website is currently undergoing a reconstruction under a new webmaster. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and hope to be back online as soon as possible.
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ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The club Annual General Meeting will be held at the track - Les Jones Room - on Wednesday 25th October at 7.00 pm. While this may not be the highlight of your year the AGM is very important in shaping the future of the club and the irection which it takes for the next twelve months and more. Decisions taken at the meeting will affect you so it is in your interest to be there.
The AGM is also the time when we reward those who have brought honour to themselves and the club over the past year and they deserve a good turn out from their peers to acknowledge their success.
 LAGAN VALLEY 10 at ARMAGH 10
Ten Lagan Valley athletes travelled to Navan Fort the ancient seat of the High Kings of Ulster on Sunday to tackle the testing hills of the Armagh 10 Mile. Race announcer, the incomparable Dave McKibben, warned of flying bullets on hte course but in the event the local road bowlers at the four mile mark suspended operations to allow the 250 runners to have safe passage.
Up front Jill Shannon was adding to her road race titles and her coffers with her second big win in eight days. Jill was in a class of her own winning by over three minutes. There were plenty of other Lagan Valley visits to the podium (actually the stage in Navan's beautiful theatre) as Bobby Hanna, Kate Montgomery and father and daughter Gary Hamill and Susan Edwards all took age category awards.
The Ladies team of Jill, Susan and Julie Murphy also took the team award.
| Jill Shannon 58:27 | David Wright 62:00 | Eric Montgomery 67:31 | Andrew Edwards 70.03 | | John T Glover 72:33 | Gary Nicholl 73:30 | Bobby Hanna
74:44 | Julie Murphy
75:34 | Susan Edwards
75:35 | Kate Montgomery
90:28 | | |
WALLACE PARK RELAYS
Lagan Valley took part in their 18th successive Wallace Park Relays in Lisburn on 7 October and came away, as usual, featured heavily in the prize lists.
First away were the Under 14 Boys in which the club produced the first three finishers with pre race favourite Adam Ingram (4.00) being pushed all the way by twins Patrick (4.06)and Andrew Monaghan (4.07) making their debut for the club. Philip Treacy finished strongly down the home straight to take an excellent 10th place.
Lisburn's Emily Mills was the Under 13 Athlete of the Series in our summer track meets and she continued that form with a win in the Under 14 Girls. Katie Kirk (4.40) chased hard all the way to gain a celar second and Emma Sharkey (4.56)had a very good run in 7th.
David Rainey's injury meant we could not complete an Under 19 Relay team but Tim Potts (7.57) ran creditably on the opening leg in his first race under 5k and Simon McCluney coasted round in 7.11 .
The Senior ladies were defending their title but the appeaarance of Kelly Reid for Lisburn made this a very difficult task. Wendy Davis (7.35) led the first leg with Julie Murphy (7.51) in fourth and Jo Jones (8.41) 11th. Anna Rainey (7.46) held off a strong challenge on the second leg for a tremendous debut with Ruth Magill (8.19) and Sarah Quee (8.47) chasing. Rona Harkens (8.05) completed a trio of personal bests on the 'A' team but could not hold Commonwealth Games star Reid who had the fastest time of the day (7.21). Hazel Hunter (8.58) improved on her best from 2004 by over a minute for the 2200 metres course.
The runner up time for the 'A' team was the 5th fastest of the 18 appearances by the womens team. Jo Jones and Anna Rainey became the 61st and 62nd athletes to represent the Senior ladies team in this event!!! Wendy's time places her 11th of 145 performances on the All Time Lagan Valley List.
BANGOR 10K CLASSIC
Jill Shannon continued her winning streak with a clear victory rounds the streets of Bangor and Groomsport. Only 19 men managed to finish in front of her as she finished in 35:25. Behind her Rona Harkens 39:29 and Ruth Magill 41:41 both took individual prizes and combined with Jill for a team victory. Jo Jones, making her club debut finished in 46:07 after a quick start and Sarah Quee ran 47:06. Kate Montgomery was also in the prizes finishing 2nd in her age category in 53:34.
Terry Eakin led home the men's team in 37:09 for a winning M55 performance. Eric Montgomery was next in 40:20 with JTG two minutes further back in 42:09. Mike Quee 48:25 and Dessie Brownlee 53:59 completed the club's representation.
LISBURN ROAD RELAYS
The clubs next outing will be in Wallace Park on Saturday 7th October followed by the Armagh 10 mile the following day.
Congratulations to Chris Quinn and Lynsey Glover who picked up trophies at the Northern Ireland Athletics Dinner on Friday night. Chris was honoured for his selection for the Irish team for the World Junior Championships while Lynsey picked up the Volunteer Offical of the Year Award. Lynsey also collected the Team Trophy on behalf of Lagan Valley.
Jill Shannon is off on her travels again, this time to the World Road Racing Championships where she will represent Ireland as a reward for winning the Irish Half Marathon Championships in Letterkenny. Jill will race over 20K and three weeks later will make her debut over the marathon distance in Dublin. Incidentally the same weekend as Dublin Jill's mum will be competiting in the World Masters Squash Championships in South Africa - so good luck to Myrtle.
Over the Halloween holiday the sky blue and navy colours will be seen at Dublin, New York and Frankfurt Marathons with the first two with Jill and Julie Murphy being a lot faster than the latter with Bobby Hanna and yours truly. reports to follow.
 It was mixed fortunes for 9 of Lagan Valley's Monday night mob who headed off to the Bristol half-marathon for their annual trip on Sunday 17 September 2006. A non-runner, Ruth had to pull out on the morning of the trip. A faller, Kate, fell on the cobblestones at the one mile. With hands and knees cut and bleeding, she bravely tried to carry on but had to pull out at 7 miles. Susan, who was running with dad, Gary, had to be physically supported by Gary and husband Andy at one point as the sun heat took it's toll (70 runs collapsted due to heat exhaustion).
Myself, Eric, and Andy, who should know better, set off too fast and paid the penalty in the latter stages. Carole and Fionuala ran their usual steady pace and finished well. That's the hard luck stories over, now for the success stories. Rona smashed her previous PB, which she set in the same race last year. She also finished 3rd in her age category. Finally, Hazel, who just continues to get faster, ran an excellent PB, especially having answered a call of nature at 8 miles. No, not a Paul Radcliffe, she used a port-a-loo. On Monday all 9 plus 4 guests from East Antrim Harriers and 2 from Larne AC, made the steep walk up on the Clifton suspension bridge. Even though we all had tired legs the trek was worth it for the spectacular views from the top (see photo). No photos of celebs this year but Andy, Gary, Susan and Eric all featured prominently in the Bristol Evening Post the next day. Race misfortunes aside the weekend was enjoyed by everyone. We are planning a new venue for next year's trip. Once again,well done to Rona and Hazel. It's good to see people who work really hard in training get the results they strike for. (Report by Eric Montgomery - written between miles 12 and 13.1)
LAGAN VALLEY WOMEN JUST MISS MEDALS
The Lagan Valley women traveled to Tullamore for the All Ireland League Final on Sunday last and finished in a very comendable fifth place. The team of eight had an average age of under 20 and they missed out on the third place medals by just 1.5 points.
The nature of this competition is such that clubs using just their own first claim members do not compete on a level playing field as combined teams, county teams and seemingly unlimited guests are permitted, and used, a situation which resulted in some rumblings of discontent from several clubs South of the border.
The ladies of Lagan Valley can feel justly proud of their efforts which keeps them in the Premier Division for next season. Mandy Gault provided a win and two seconds and suffered badly from a no jump call which many observers thought was incorrect. Jo Shaw produced a personal best in the 400 Hurdles and Wendy Davis had a seasons best in the 1500 metres. The 4x400 team which won Silver at the Northern Ireland Championships mid week again produced an excellent performance.
 Jason Harvey produced an excellent series of performances including a 5.96m Long Jump and a 3.60m Pole Vault to take the Bronze medal in the AAA's Under 17 Decathlon.
Chris Quinn ran within a fraction of a second of his personal best in the opening Round of the World Juniors and failed to progress by just one tenth of a second. Hopefully the taste of the big time will leave him ken to go further but the lure of the odd shaped ball is very strong.
 The final Young Athlete Series was held on Thursday last with a good turnout of youngsters but a somewhat disappointing response to the Zen Miles. On the previous night the Senior Ladies confirmed their positioon as the the Number 1 local outfit by winning the Team Trophy (no guests allowed in this competition). The 4 x 400 team of Emma Lewis, Wendy Davis, Carla Bowyer and Anna Rainey were excellent Silver Medalists in the NI Relay Championship.
Wendy Davis with former Olympic Champion and World Record Holder Lee Evans her coach at South Alabama University. The Lagan Valley link continues as Erin Kinnear is currently a student there.
Jill Shannon made a welcome return to competition to destroy the opposition at the Cookstown 5 miles and has now set her sights on making a Marathon debut in Dublin at the end of October. Speaking of Marathons we will have club representation not only in Dublin but in Amsterdam, Frankfurt and New York in coming weeks as well as a squad going to the Bristol Half marathon.
"Gee but its great to be back home" - not. Had a great time in France watching the Tour de France among other things. But all good things come to an end so it is back to rain, rain and more rain.
While I was away sunning myself Lagan Valley athletes continued to produce the goods with great effect. We now have our first 2.00 metres jumper thanks to the ridiculously young and talented JASON HARVEY who should produce an interesting performance at the AAA's Multi Events at the end of the month.
Going horizontally rather than vertically MANDY GAULT is closing in on the magic 6.00 metres mark. The Scottish Champion has produced 5.96 and 5.90 in recent competitions so lets hope she can get the big one before the nd of the season.
As I type CHRIS QUINN is in Beijing preparing to represent Ireland in the WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS. Chris produced the qualifying time in a race in Gothenburg and shortly before leaving ran a 49.40 flat 400 metres to show he is in great condition to produce the goods ove the hurdles in China. This is a fantastic performance from a young athlete whose main sporting love by his own admission is Rugby.
August 20th at Tullamore would be a good day to produce PB's as the Senior ladies contest the ALL IRELAND LEAGUE FINAL. Great performances by a small but select squad in Navan and Santry has given the club a great opportunity to shine in Tullamore.
The younger girls as well have been in great form winning the Northern ireland Young Athletes Legue for the 16th consecutive time - a record which will never be broken as from next year the competition will be for mixed teams.
Leading the male challenge next year should be new recruit ADAM INGRAM who in the past few weeks has made his mark on the record books by first smashing the NI Minor 800 metres mark with 2:09 and then adding the 1500 metres for good measure.
The distance squad too have been active on the roads and through the forests with pride of place going to super vet RUTH MAGILL who won the Ards 5 mile outright winning her first race since she was sixteen. Ruth is an inspiration to all who think you are too old at 40+.
MEDALS GALORE AT SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Sky Blue and Navy colours were well to th fore at the Northern ireland and Senior Track and Field Championships at Mary Peter's on Saturday. Held in glorious sunshine Lagan Valley took 2 Gold 4 Silver and 8 Bronze medals in one of the best champioships for years.
Pride of place goes to Raymond Adams and Suzanne McCormick who topped the rostrum in their respective events. Both in fact had to basically run time trials with Ray coming home in an excellent 1:51.18 in the 800 metres and Suzanne in 17:54.95 nearly two laps ahead of the 'opposition'.
Michelle Harvey picked up two Silver medals in the Pole Vault and Javelin pushing twin sister Kerry into Bronze in the latter event by the smallest of margins.
There was also double medal success for Mandy Gault with Silver in the 100 metres hurdles and bronze in the Long Jump with a big pesonal best of 5.89m which puts her seventh on the Northern Ireland All TIme best performances.
Rowena Fair produced seasons best in both hurdles to earn two bronze medals. Jennifer Quinn and Liam Nelson both bounced back from disappointing runs in the 400 metres to earn bronze in the 200 metres.
In the women's 800 metres Wendy Davis ran her first 800 of the season for the Silver medal and despite having been ill all week Anna Rainey ran an excellent 2;19.35 for the Bronze medal.
Chris Quinn found himself in world class competition in the 400 hurdles and decided to give it his all in the semi final. Despite messing up the seventh hurdle badly he finished strong to earn a place in the final. Showing great strength he produced an even better performance in the final to take the bronze medal in 53.77 just outside the World Junior Qualifying standard which is surely there on a less windy day.
There were further medals for the club in the NI Age Group 4 x 100 relay Championships held at the same venue. The Under 17 Girls and Under 15 Girls took the Silver medals while the Under13 Girls took bronze.
FULL RESULTS
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL IRISH SCHOOL PERFORMERS
The club had a large number of athletes competing in the Irish School's with Jason Harvey producing arguably the best performance in winning the Intermediate Boy's High Jump in 1.95 metres. Sadly Jason is too young to challenge for a Senior title the following weekend.
YOUNG ATHLETE SERIES 2006
The first of the Lagan Valley Young Athlete Meetings attracted 266 athletes and some excellent performances were produced. Unfortunately the organisation of the meeting was not up to the standard which could be expected from the promoting club and for this I apologise. In mitigation I have to say that we lost four officials at the last moment through unexpected circumstances including a five hour visit to and A&E Department. The other problem over which we had no control was the state of the track which meant that we could only use five lanes resulting in a lot more races than normal. The alternative was to postpone the meeting but since the idea of the early meets is to provide competition pre. School's Districts I was reluctant to do that. Anyway we will attempt to get things better organised by the next meet . RESULTS | LONDON MARATHON
The sky blue and navy vest was clearly seen on the television coverage of the London Marathon. Worn by our two representitives Natalie Crossland and Hazel Hunter both did the colours proud with big personal bests. Natalie finished in 3 hours 48 mins and Hazel in 3 hours 56 mins and both were justly delightedwith their performances. Not a bad performance either by big Tim Crossland who was a few places further ahead in a magnificent 2 hours 30 mins. | 25th CITY OF BELFAST MARATHON
The 25th Belfast Marathon was run over the fourth different course since the first two lapper in 1982. Congratulations first of all to the three intrepid Lagan Valley athletes who went the distance all 26 miles 385 yards. The trio were led home by David Wright who finished in a very respectable 69th place out of 1599 entrants. next home was Alison Adair and then Bobby Hanna the placing for whom are not yet available. The conditions on the road were difficult with a very strong head wind from 3 to nearly 14 miles not to mention the climb from 7 to 14.
The club had four relay teams on the road along with the other 1600 club, office, school, charity etc teams. What a battle we had between the All Ladies team and the Mixed A team. The ladies through Wendy Davis, Rona Harkens and Suzanne McCormick led for 18 miles before Seamus Melanophy with the help of Patricia Brady and Terry Eakins squeezed ahead on the cycle path (I did actually see him squeeze Julie Murphy on the way past - only jokin Joan). The last leg was a cracker with the experience (age) of Ruth Magill just getting the Ladies to the line ahead of Sarah Quee. The battle brought the best out of both with the Ladies retaining their Marathon Relay title 3mins 49 secs ahead of Abbey with North Belfast a further 56 seconds behind. The position in the Mixed team race has yet to be confirmed but as they were 10th overall it must be a high placing.
Not too many places back in 23rd overall was the Mixed B team of Nicky McWilliams, Andrew Edwards , Eric Montgomery, Susan Edwards and Fionulla . And what a performance by the Lagan Valley Half Centurians (sorry Hazel the name was in before your late replacement). To finish in the top 90 teams with a combined age of nearly 250 is a superb performance. The team was led out by Ossie McAuley to Fred Hamond. Hazel Hunter, one week after a big PB in the London Marathon was a late replacement for an injured Gary Hamill and she handed on to Mike Quee finally returning to competition and the glory leg was taken by Kate Montgomery who has been cleaning up in races since being elevated to a new age group. |
It is with deep regret that Lagan Valley announces the death of David Shirlow. Due to ill health in recent years Davy may not be known to younger members but throughout the first decade of the club's history Davy was responisble for most of the success enjoyed by the many successful throwers in the club. At the recent AGM the Shirlow Trophy was awarded for the first time, a trophy which will now act as a lasting memory to Davy and his contribution to not only the club but to throwing in general in Northern Ireland. To Doreen, Mandy, Simone and the rest of the family circle we offer our deepest condolences.
SENIOR CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
 Four in a row! Lagan Valley won the Northern Ireland Women's Cross Country Title for the fourth consecutive year on a cold but fine day at Coleraine. The course was in excellent condition with very little mud and led by a gun to tape victory by defending individual champion Jill Shannon the Sky Blue and Navy vests were soon well to the fore. Such was the domination of the club that the 'B' team finished an excellent fifth place overall. Suzanne McCormick, Julie Murphy and Rona Harkens were the other medal winners with Patricia Brady, Fionulla McCourt, Susan Edwards and Hazel Hunter producing our best ever B team placing. Special mention must be made of Ruth Magill and Hazel Hunter who improved by 2 minutes on last years race over the same course and distance.
THE NEXT GENERATION
The performance of Lagan Valley athletes in the Northern Ireland and Ulster Indoor Age Group Championships show that the future of the club is in good hands. The girls middle distance events in particular saw a succession of Lagan valley athletes in the finals and subsequently on the medal rostrum.
Rebecca Mains produced two great 800 metres run in one day to win the 1993 title just ahead of the very fast finishing Katie Kirk while in the 1992 final Lauren Wilson worked her way steadily through the field to take bronze. In the youngest age group 1994 Rebecca Blundell took silver over 600 metres with Emma Sharkey a close fourth. In the heats there were also good performances from Kirsty Kee, Katie Burke and Emma McNeice.
The 1992 High Jump turned into a battle between Shannon Turkington and Jodie Robinson with the former winning the gold at 1.48 metres and Jodie taking Silver at 1.45.
Pride of place for the performance of the weekend has to go to Jason Harvey in the 1991 High Jump. The opposition in his own age group soon dropped out leaving jason to take on his elders in the 1990 contest. The results was a fantastic victory for Jason with a new Irish Age group record of 1.91 metres. Five minutes later he took further Gold in the 60 metres hurldes.
IRISH SENIOR INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The standard of competition in these championships was certainly the best ever seen with World Class opposition in almost every event. The Lagan Valley Senior men sprinters were in excellent form with Jonathan Davis making a welcome return to competition to take an excellent bronze medal in the 60 metres. With good performances in the heats by Liam Nelson, Ignatious Chinyoka and the youngsters Andrew Graham and Andy Carroll there should be some fine relay performances in the summer.
In the women's events Mandy Gault had a great series in the Long Jump to take the silver medal. There were also three fourth palce finishes for Amy Davis in the Shot, Wendy Davis in the 800 metres and Patricia Brady in the 1500 metres.
IRISH MASTERS
Kathryn Booth produced two outstanding performances in the Irish Masters Championships in Nenagh to take the Gold Medal in both the 60 metres and 200 metres. This is just reward for Kathryn who instead of just delivering her offspring to the track has joined in on their training sessions and is reaping the rewards. There is a message there somewhere.
NORTHERN IRELAND and ULSTER TITLES FOR LAGAN VALLEY
 Lagan Valley continued their amazing run of success by taking two of the first three women's titles of 2006. On a perfect day for running on an unusually firm Castle Park course in Bangor Rona Harkens, Ruth Magill, Diane Wilson and Fionulla McCourt won the Northern Ireland and Ulster Veteran's title with Rona, Ruth and Fionulla all taking individual medals. After an administrative mix up which resulted in the club calling for a stewards enquiry the Intermediate team of Rona, Wendy Davis, Ruth and Patricia Brady were also declared as champions. Patricia pipped Sarah Quee literally on the line leaving the latter to challenge for the title next year. These two were joined in the Junior race by Rachel Boyd but unfortunately the absence of Anna Rainey, on a charitable visit to Romania with her school, meant that the club could not challenge for team honours.
 The male vets also produced some sterling performances, none more so than Terry Eakin who was outstanding in wining the M55 category. The scoring team was made up by young vet (under 40) Davy Wright and two welcome newcomers to the sky blue and navy Jonny Davis and Neil Darby.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
The committee of Lagan Valley Athletic Club wish all members, friends, rivals (even Bobby Rea) and any innocent surfers a very Happy and Peaceful 2006. Hope you all had a Cracking Christmas just like the hardy souls below. (Photo by Kate) Next get together at the Glens on Tuesday 2nd and Stormont Saturday 7th.
MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY and SUCCESSFUL NEW YEAR
 Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells Jingle all the way Who's the little Santa man I hear you surfers say Oh Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells , Jingle all the way It's our wee Eric joker man The shades give him away.
We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Glad tidings we bring to you and your kin
Lagan Valley are the Champions and will be next year!!
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The Annual General Meeting was a great success with a large turn out of over 50 members and family. Those attending were 'treated' to a photgraphic slide show of members in action , many of which have never before seen in public and many which the 'victims' hope will never be seen again. MORE
MARIA WINS AT JORDANSTOWN
Maria Skelton returned to winning ways with an emphatic victory in the Abbey Cross Country races at the University of Ulster. There was also victory for Conall Kirk in the U12 Boys with Cydnie McCullough and Eric Montgomery also picking up prizes at either end of the age spectrum.
DOUBLE DELIGHT IN DUBLIN
Lagan Valley's two entries in the Dublin Marathon both excelled themselves with massive personal bests. Running seperately Alison Adair and Julie Murphy were never far apart on the road and at the finish there was little to choose between them with Alison finishing 15th Woman in 3 hours 9 minutes and 40 seconds and Julie 16th woman in 3 hours 10 minutes and 50 seconds. Both had entered the race with personal best of 3:18 and both finished very strongly with large negative splits (the last half faster than the first.) Julie celebrated in fine style by jetting of to Moscow that afternoon from Dublin airport.
BALLYCLARE BONANZA
Twelve races over the Ballyclare riverside course meant that the later runners found themselves struggling through nearly 200 metres of sticky strength sapping mud. The early events were the Northern Ireland and Ulster Even Age Group Championships and Lagan Valley had a very strong representation.
 Ryan Sharkey and Conall Kirk finished in the first 12 in the Under 10 Boys to qualify for the All Ireland. Hot on their heels were the Under 12 Girls who again placed two in qualifying 12 with Rebecca Blundell in 6th and Emma Sharkey in 12th. The team of these two and Cydnie McCullough and Catie Wright finished and excellent 4th missing medals by 1 point.
 The Under 14 girls Lauren Wilson (6th) Kirsty Lee (15th) Katie Kirk (29th) Rebecca Mains (57th) and Emma McNeice (58th) also finished just outside the medals in 4th in a field of 90 finishers.
In the Under 18 Girls Sarah Quee continued her return to good form with an excellent 10th place.
 The Senior Ladies held over 2 miles turned into a battle between Lagan Valley's Suzanne McCormick and Maria Skelton with Suzanne taking the honours this time round. Not to be outdone by Julie Suzanne heads off to Salt Lake City this week and with Hazel Hunter just back from San Francisco and Catriona McCorkell heading to Australia the Sky Blue and Navy seems to be on a World Tour.
Suzanne and Maria were well supported by veterans Rona Harkens (6th) and Ruth Magill (9th) in their final race before next weekends International in Dublin. At the other end of the age spectrum Patricia Brady had a strong run in 15th place.
LAGAN VALLEY WOMEN DOMINANT IN LISBURN
 Lagan Valley A team of Catriona McCorkell, Maria Sjelton and Jill Shannon receive the Fisher Kirkpatrick Challenge Trophy from Lisburn's Sam McGibbon. MORE
 ROAD and CROSS COUNTRY 2005 - the story so far
 LAGAN VALLEY PAIR IN BRISTOL SUCCESS or HOW TO CRAM FOUR PERSONAL BESTS INTO ONE WEEKEND more details
GOODBYE SUMMER HELLO WINTER
The track season is finally over and it is back to school for all you lucky children and all we poor teachers which explains why there has been nothing new on the site for the past few weeks as I have been preparing my shemes and lesson notes and trying to learn the meaning of several new courses (unsuccessfully).
In the meantime of course Lagan Valley athletes have continued to compete with success in numerous raod races all over the British Isles. We had representation at the Great North in Gateshead (Andrew, Brian and Diane) the Bangor Classic, the Stirling 10K in Scotland (a PB for Faye McManus), the Rathlin Run (Hazel Hunter), the Mallusk 10K ( won by Jill Shannon), the South Armagh Half Marathon (Brian and Diane Wilson) and of course the Waterside Half Marathon where the ladies team of Jill Shannon, Julie Murphy and Alison Adair added yet another Northern Ireland team Championship to this years long list of victories.
The tradition winter season gets under way with the Larne Road Races on October 8th followed by Lisburn Relays and then it is into the muck for the Comber Cup Cross Country which doubles as the trial for the Veterans International.
Congratulations to super vet Terry Eakin who competed with success at the World Masters in San Sebastian, Spain.
 MAGNIFICENT TEAM PERFORMANCE AT TULLAMORE
Lagan Valley's womens team produced one of the clubs best ever performance by finishing 4th in the All Ireland National League Premier Final at Tullamore, Co Offaly on Sunday 21st August. Coupled with the Senior Cross Country victory again this year and the 15th consecutive Young Athletes League victory by the girls Lagan Valley are clearly at the top of the podium as far as women's athleteics in Northern Ireland is concerned.
The result in Tullamore was all the more satisfying in that unlike several other teams in the competition, including the winners, the lAgan valley squad were all bone-fide Lagan Valley members. Some clubs used as many as four guest competitors in their quest for points.
Throughout the afternoon Lagan Valley were fluctuating between second and fourth place and in the end it was only a few points which seperated these three positions. All the team members can be justly proud of a job well done.
JILL 11th in Turkey
Jill Shannon finished an excellent 11th (3rd European) in the World Student Games Half Marathon held in the searing heat of Turkey. Jill was just over 80 mins for the 13.1 miles which is a fantastic performance in the conditions.
FIFTEEN IN A ROW!!!!!!!!!!!!
 Club Captain Laura Frey led Lagan Valley girls to an amazing fifteen year winning streak in the Northern Ireland Young Athletes League Final at the Antrim Stadium on Saturday. (FULL RESULTS)
| Ards Charity 5 Mile | Report and Picture | | Joey Dunlop Memorial Five Mile | Report and picture. | | IRISH SENIOR CHAMPS | Five Senior athletes competed in the Irish Senior Championships at Santry on 23/24th July. Best placed was Jill Shannon with a fourth place in the 5000 metres. Catriona McCorkell ran her second fastest ever 1500 metres in the final while Wendy Davis, Liam Nelson and Lynsey Glover all came close to their PB's in the 800m, 400m and Hammer/Discus respectively. (RESULTS) | | LAGAN VALLEY BOYS AND GIRLS THROUGH TO YOUNG ATHLETES LEAGUE FINAL | Thanks to a good all round performance by the athletes and excellent team management over the four preliminary rounds the boys and girls both qualified comfortably for the final in Antrim on Saturday 30th July. | | LADIES LEAD IN GOLDEN FOUR LEAGUE AFTER TWO ROUNDS - MEN FOURTH | Once again the turn out for the Golden Four League was disappointing but strong performances by Jill Shannon, Wendy Davis, Faye McManus, Rowena Fair and Lynsey Glover were sufficient to give the ladies a good lead after two rounds. The third round on 23 July clashes with the All ireland Championships so we will be looking to those not going to Dublin to keep up the good work. For the men Liam Nelson ran an excellent winning 400 metres in very difficult conditions. | | NATIONAL INTER CLUB LEAGUE | Six girls travelled to Tullamore on a scoring hot day for Round 1 of the National (formerly Mazda) league. Official results are not available yet but the six comprising Laura Frey, Jo Shaw, Jenny Quinn, Mandy Gault, Wendy Davis and Catrional McCorkell all scored valuable points. | | PORTAFERRY 10 MILES (MORE) | |
| Northern Ireland and Ulster Age Group Championships | TEN GOLD, 14 SILVER and EIGHT BRONZE | FULL RESULTS |
| RIVER ROCK 3 RESULTS | RIVER ROCK GRAND PRIX POINTS |
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Fionulla McCourt, Ruth Magill and Susan Edwards runners up in Northern Ireland 5 Mile Road Championships
