This week the litters pulled on their spikes and made their way to MUSA Cookstown for the Irwin Speirs XC memorial. With a weather warning for wind and rain looming over like a challenge - we knew it was not going to be an easy event - and so it unfolded - lots and lots of mud! it took a lot of heart from all our entrants to navigate the very tough course today. 

Senior Ladies

Anna Donnelly 24:49

Gemma Whitehouse 26:06

Senior Men

Darren Irwin 31:18

Fintan McGuckin 33:34

Joe Gervin 33:52

Shay O'Neill 34:00

Barry Kirkland 35:54

Eskra 10k

Connor McGuiness 39:49 

Musa Parkrun

Barry Kirkland 19:37

Colin Woods 22:02

Paul Conway   17:51 1st!

Vinnie McAlister 17:52 2nd!

Craigavon Parkrun

Emma Taggart 22:55

Shane Taggart 20:36

Another ground breaking weekend for KEL!

Our Senior Girls chose to compete with the best in the country at National Novice level this weekend and the excelled in what was an extremely high standard race. We simply could not be prouder of the courage and desire these girls showed to take on the very best and come home 6th place in a National competition!

Carol Gourley 17:44

Leanne McKenna 17:37

Bridget Murphy 16:38

Gemma Whitehouse 17:48

Elaine McGuckin 16:45

Anna Donnelly 17:51

Tara Jayne Murphy 16:51

There was also the Seely Cup 10k - the club targeted race for our recent training block which brought PB's a plenty. A terrific effort put in by all!

Colin Woods 44:17 PB!

Lucille Ryan 44:50 PB!

Jonny Carson 35:26 PB!

Canice Nicholas 40:53 PB!

Fintan McGuckin 37:48 PB!

Shay O'Neill 36:46 PB!

Joe Gervin 37:59 PB!

Darragh Hamill 38:52 PB!

Brendan Gildernew 37:47

Megan Devlin 43:55

Barry Kirkland 37:41

Colly McGrath 34:39

Ita McVeigh 47:39

Damien Bell 47:33

Connor McGuiness 38:44

Darren Irwin 38:46

Vincent McAlister 35:24

Dermot McCabe 36:19

Gary McFall 41:26

And finally we had a few parkrunners also in action :-

MUSA Parkrun

Ryan O'Neill  18:55

Dara McGuiness 19:36

Ryan Treanor 21:55

Dungannon Parkrun

Barry Kirkland 19:32 1st!

A good weekend for the KEL crew with our ladies team preparing for the novice XC this weekend  by racing around Queens playing fields in Belfast for the Malcolm Cup XC.

Elaine McGuckin 00:20:33

Bridget Murphy 00:20:51

Leanne McKenna 00:21:34

Carol Gourley 00:21:48

Anna Donnelly 00:22:00

We also had a few members racing in the Sperrin Harriers winter league with this fixture being the 5k race around Lough Fea. (With Barry on his second run of the day!)

Jonny Carson 00:18:14

Barry Kirkland 00:19:48

And finally all the members using the various local Park runs as part of their training.

MUSA Parkrun

Colly McGrath 00:16:48

Brian Taggart 00:18:07

Vincent McAlister 00:18:55

Tara Jayne Murphy 00:18:58

Darren Irwin  00:22:51

Anna Donnelly 00:25:23

Paul Conway 00:16:52

Darragh Hamill 00:19:26

Joanne Taggart 00:20:21

Colin Woods 00:21:47

Antrim Parkrun

Fintan McGuckin  00:18:28

Dungannon Parkrun

Shay O'Neill 00:18:34

Barry Kirkland 00:19:36

Canice Nicholas 00:20:38

Shane Taggart  00:21:19

Gary McFall  00:21:39

Emma Taggart 00:22:54

Ryan O'Neill  00:19:55

Craigavon Parkrun

Dara McGuiness 00:19:23

Great running all!

KEL were out using the park runs as part pf their training for the Seeley Cup 10k. 3 Park runs got visited with some attending the Citypark 500th parkrun in Craigavon.

We also celebrated Brendan Gildernew's 50th parkrun. Well done Brendan!

MUSA Parkrun

Mel Taggart 23:14

Colly McGrath 19:38

Terry McGurk 22:51

Jonny Carson 18:09

Cathal O'Hagan 19:38

Colin Woods 23:31

Brendan Gildernew 19:50

Dungannon Parkrun

Emma Taggart 23:01

Ita McVeigh 24:19

Barry Kirkland 19:16 1st

Fintan McGuckin 19:37 2nd

Canice Nicholas 22:25

Shane Taggart 20:51

Craigavon Parkrun

Lucille Ryan 22.40

Eamon McNally 20:31

Shaun Donnelly 20:41

KEL had Leanne McKenna running for NI in the British and Masters Cross Country this weekend. KEL is so proud of Leanne as she becomes the first (but certainly not the last) senior member to gain International Representative Standard for the club. 

British & Irish Masters Cross Country

Leanne McKenna 25:31

Next we had Bridget racing in the club colours in the 1st race of the Sperrin Harriers Winter league and coming in with as first lady

Sperrin Harriers Winter League Davagh 10k

Bridget Murphy 40:54 1stF

Finally the club took to the local park runs with members in MUSA, Dungannon and a big contingent hitting Victoria Park in Belfast. Quite a few parkrun pb's on display too!

MUSA Parkrun

Carol Gourley 20:18 pb 1st Female

Shay O'Neill 17:38 pb 2nd

Brendan Gildernew 18:14 3rd

Eamon McNally 18:32

Dungannon Parkrun

Emma Taggart 23:12

Colin Woods 23:05

Ryan O'Neill 20:05

Anna Donnelly 22:09

Shane Taggart 20:42

Craigavon Parkrun

Shaun Donnelly 21:22

Victoria Parkrun

Vinny McAlister 17:14

Darren Irwin 17:15pb

Paul Conway 17:07

Ita McVeigh 22:50

Barry Kirkland 18:04

Dara McGuinness 19:57

Jonny Carson 17:30pb

Colly McGrath 16:50

Cathal O'Hagan 18:20

Megan McAlister 25:50pb

Darragh Hamill 18:38

Fintan McGuckin 18:27

This week led us to the Ulster & NI Uneven and Novice Championship were our ladies team were out in force and managed to be runners up and become the second placed ladies team! Fantastic running!

Novice Women - 2nd team

All Ireland qualification!

Emma Taggart 21:11

Tara Jayne Murphy 18:00

Lucille Ryan 20:38

Annemarie McKernan 21:28

Carol Gourley 19:13

Ita McVeigh 23:11

Anna Donnelly 18:58

Megan Devlin 20:20

And the parkrunners were out again :- 

MUSA Parkrun

Darren Irwin 17:59 (100th ParkRun!!!)

Jonny Carson 17:49

Brendan Gildernew 18:49

Dungannon Parkrun

Gemma Whitehouse 23:35

Barry Kirkland 19:37 1st

Craigavon Citypark Parkrun

Eamon McNally 18:51

Leeann Whittle 21:28

Adrian Whittle 19:54

Dublin marathon was the main event this week and KEL had a fantastic effort - the results speak for themselves!

Dublin City Marathon

Barry Kirkland 2.57.32

Philly Jackson 3:03:54

Mel Taggart 3.27.57pb

Bridget Murphy 3:42:51

Gemma Whitehouse 3:08:35 pb

Elaine McGuckin 3:00:56

Dermott McCabe 2:52:48

Shane Coney 3:29:01

Marty O'Neill 3.30.50

Kenny Holdsworth 3:58:05

Maurice Devlin 3.12.05

Connor McGuinness 3:13:04

Dara McGuiness 3:12:18 pb

Shaun Scullion 4:19:55

Brendan Gildernew 3:02:36

Joe Girvan 2:58:49 pb

Shay O'Neill 2:59:03 pb

Sandy McBride 2.54.18

We also had a few entries to the Enniskillen spooktacular event.

Enniskillen Spooktacular 5k

Paul Conway 17.20

Vinny McAlister 17.21

A few members also attended the local parkruns.

Musa ParkRun

Ryan O'Neill 19.38

Jonny Carson 18.20

Cathal O'Hagan 20.11

Colly McGrath 19.35

Paddy Corr 20.11

Dungannon Parkrun

Gary McFall 22.45

Portrush Parkrun

Eamon McNally 21.15

Our seniors were out at the NI & Ulster Even Age XC Championships & Bobby Rea International XC races this weekend putting in a good show in tough conditions. Well done all!

Senior Women

Gemma Whitehouse 27:37

Emma Taggart 30:14

Leann McKenna 28:21

Anna Donnelly 27:35

Bridget Murphy 27:38

Senior Men

Fintan McGuckin 36:01

Eamonn McNally 36:10

Darragh Hamill 34:49

Shane Taggart 38:42

Sandy McBride 34:33

Cathal O'Hagan 34:36

Shane Coney 37:40

A few members also attended the local parkruns.

MUSA Parkrun

Jonny Carson 18:22

Dungannon Parkrun

Barry Kirkland 20:13 3rd

A much quieter week for the seniors while many are preparing adn tapering for Dublin marathon. Those who weren't seen at any races could be seen out on Sunday morning doing their tapered long runs.

We had one race this weekend at the jog in the bog 5k with Fintan making a top 10 finish:-

Jog in the bog 5k

Fintan McGuckin 18.48

We also had Shane on XC duties this weekend :- 

St Peter's AC Spadetown Cup XC

Shane Coney 26:45

Then we had our members out supporting the local park runs :-

MUSA Parkrun

Jonny Carson 24:01

Dungannon Parkrun

Ita McVeigh 24:28

Barry Kirkland 19:07 1st

Canice Nicholas 22:06

Eamon McNally 21:34

Good to see that the Chicago marathon hadn't taken it out of Barry who was back to best at Dungannon!

Another weekend of racing for the 'litters with club members running in the Chicago marathon and many more much closer to home. We had the NI & Ulster Master's this weekend and two club members managed to get themselves selected for the NI & Ulster team. Well done Fintan and Leanne!

Barry and Darren made the trip accross the states and ran the Chicago marathon in brilliant times in great conditions. Well done guys. They are fairly knocking the majors off their to do lists.

Across the way we had the Armagh 10 mile road race with 2 of our ladies claiming age categories - Well done Joanne and Bridget! 

NI & Ulster Masters XC F

Leanne McKenna 25:58 - NI & Ulster team selection!

Annemarie McKernan 29:19

NI & Ulster Masters XC M

Fintan McGuckin 30:00 - NI & Ulster team selection!

Chicago Marathon

Darren Irwin 2:49:08

Barry Kirkland 2:52:57

Armagh 10 Mile Road Race

Joanne Taggart 1:12:26 2nd F40

Bridget Murphy 1:12:26 1st F35

Anna Donnelly 1:15:26

Leon McKee 1:18:52

Shane Hurrell 1:15:42

Mel Taggart 1:15:42

Dungannon Parkrun

Colly Heron 17:49 1st

Eamon McNally 20:55 2nd

MUSA Parkrun

Tara Jayne Murphy 19:31

Lucille Ryan 21:57

Darragh Hamill 19:59

Shay O'Neill 19:27

Philly Jackson 19:24

Sandy McBride 18:58

Craigavon Parkrun

Sean McDaid 19:32