Last Friday, the Finn Valley Centre in Stranorlar was the venue for the annual Donegal Children’s Games Championships for the Under 9 to 13 ages.  The club had a large squad of athletes in attendance, its biggest in recent years.  With fine weather and a large representation from athletic clubs across the county, this was an ideal evening for competition. 

For our young athletes, several of whom were competing for the first time, there was a fantastic return on the many evenings training and preparation over the preceding months.  The club brought home a total of twenty medals which was a brilliant reward that delighted both athletes and parents alike.  Equally rewarding from the night was the large number of fourth and fifth placed finishes, just missing out on the medal placings.  With a number of new athletes coming to compete for the club on the night, we would like to extend them all a warm welcome, and hope that this will be the first of many nights involvement with Lifford AC.  The club would also like to thank the large number of parents that turned up to provide valuable support to their children on the night, one of the most important factors in ensuring the continued involvement of young children in sport.

Those athletes that took part included, Katie Anderson, Niamh Bradley, Laura Burns, Shannon Craig, Caitlin Dolan, Aine Dooher, Charles Dooher, Megan Hannigan, Conor Lynch, Niamh Lynch, Sara Martin, Nicole Martin, Rory McCafferty, Tonicha McGavigan, Loressa McGavigan, Emmet McGhee, Vanessa McHugh, Conor McKinney, Alisha McLaughlin, Barry McLaughlin, Nikita Mitchell, Reece Nesbitt, Caoimhe Patterson, Kate Smyth, Ryan Stewart, Amy Stewart, Alexander Tinney, Jasmine Tinney, Keesje Tinney, Tianna Ward, and Christian Wilson.  From running to throwing and jumping, all our athletes put in their very best and congratulations to all. 

On Saturday, it was the turn of the older athletes to take to the track and field for the Donegal Juvenile Championships.  On what would have been a glorious day for athletics were it not for the incessant rain, our athletes followed the path set by the younger members the evening before by bringing home a haul of medals in a number of different disciplines.  All that competed returned with medals and included Bertram Barrett, Megan Colhoun, Ciaran McBrearty, Conor McKinney, Nicole Stewart, Nikita Mitchell, Ryan Bradley.  Again, congratulations to all these young athletes.

Over the course of both days, the club would like to thank the coaches that travelled and officiated.  Next up for the club will be the Ulster Children’s Games on Sunday 7^th June in Letterkenny.  The onus is now on all athletes to attend training on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6.30pm to 7.30pm to ensure they perform to their best at these Games.  We have new athletes joining all the time and welcome the involvement of new children in the club.  Anyone wishing to join can come along on any of the training nights or contact the club on 9142927.

Finally, a number of schools from the Lifford and Raphoe areas have been participating in the annual Finn Valley Primary Schools Championships.  Many athletes from the area qualified through to the finals being held yesterday (Wednesday).  At the time of going to press, the results of these are unknown, but no doubt, there will be many more fine performances on the day itself.  At the beginning of June, smaller schools from our area will be competing in the annual Donegal Cumann na mBunscol Primary School Championships in Letterkenny.  With several club athletes involved, we wish them well.