Northern Ireland & Ulster Team for Telford 10k Inter-Area competition Announcement

17 October 2019

Northern Ireland & Ulster Team for Telford 10k Inter-Area competition Announcement

The Northern Ireland & Ulster Team for the Telford 10k Inter-Area competition has been announced.

Many congratulations to the following athletes who have been selected to represent Northern Ireland & Ulster in the Telford 10k Inter-Area competition to be held in Leeds.

Conor Duffy (Glaslough Harriers)

Conan McCaughey (North Belfast Harriers)

Eoin Hughes (Acorns AC)

Finn McNally (Brighton Phoenix)

 

Nakita Burke (Letterkenny AC)

Sarah Lavery (Beechmount Harriers)

Fionnuala Ross (Armagh AC)

Sinead Sweeney (East Down AC)

 


Eight athletes have been selected to represent Northern Ireland and Ulster in the Telford 10k Inter-Area competition on Sunday 8th December.

This is the first year that Northern Ireland & Ulster have been a part of the Inter Area Road Race Series that includes North of England, South of England, Midlands, Armed Forces, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland & Ulster have already competed at the Titanic Quarter 10k, the Cardiff Victory 5k and the Stirling 10k this year.

Both the Men’s and Women’s teams finished 2nd at the Victory 5k, the men finished 3rd in Stirling where the women were 1st. The teams will aim to keep up their success in this next race of the series.

Last year, 48 athletes ran faster than 31 minutes and Conor Duffy finished 38th in his personal best time of 30:34. He has had this in his plan for this year for some time and will hope to improve on that again. He is joined by Eoin Hughes, Conan McCaughey and Finn McNally, who will make his debut for Northern Ireland & Ulster at this event.

The women’s race will also be a high-quality affair. Last year, it was won in under 33 minutes and the Top 12 were under 35 minutes. All four of our female athletes are aiming to be competitive in this field and to finish in the top tier. The team will be managed by Director of Coaching & Athlete Development, Jackie Newton along with Bashir Hussain. Bashir won the Telford 10k back in 1992 in a time of 29:14 –the fifth fastest ever at this race. With his pedigree, Bashir will be able to deliver good advice to the team!

These extra opportunities have been made possible thanks to the Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon who are providing funding for athletes with marathon potential.

Athletics NI will select athletes, for the inter-area road races, that have demonstrated potential to transition from shorter distances to the marathon, or who have the potential to significantly improve their current marathon performance. Normally athletes in the top tier of our programme (Podium Potential) will not be selected. Places will be kept for athletes, with the required standards, on the Commonwealth Potential tier and below.

The selection policy for the Marathon Potential 2024 can be found here:

https://athleticsni.org/Athletes/Competition-Opportunities/Selection-Policies-Overview/Marathon-Potential-2024-Project