Mark Hoy put in a good performance as he set injury problems aside to take second place at the Donegal 5K last weekend while another Fermanagh man, James Speight came home in fifth spot.

Mark explains that his pre-season training has been disjointed in recent weeks.

“The last two weeks of my pre-season training have been ruined with a niggly achilles injury which has left me cycling and swimming a lot,” he said. “Thankfully I got back to running on Thursday and decided to race to see where I’m at.” The race, ran in wet and windy conditions, was very tactical and was quite slow over the oepning 3k with a group of five at the front. When things sped up Mark was in contention but had to settle for second place behind winner Conor Bradley of City of Derry in a time of 15.43.

“No one is usually happy with second but I was satisfied with that, all things considered. My training partner, and good friend, James Speight was also in the race, finishing fifth and whilst disappointed, James knows he is in great shape and will come back better in his next race,” he said.

The Donegal 5k Championships is a memorial race for Shane Bonner, a young Finn Valley athlete who was killed in an accident two and a half years ago. Mark’s club, Finn Valley also won the Senior mens team title.