Car Treasure Hunt engenders great excitement on Easter Sunday

Fruit merchant McGinty in antique vehicle scoops top prize

Car treasure hunt winners Owen Dunlevy, Peadar McGinty and Oisin McGinty with 1st prize of a giant easter egg, pictured with other entrants of the competition on Easter Sunday Photo: Jason McGarrigle

There was a great air of excitement in Donegal Town on Sunday, from all those participating in the Great Easter Egg Car Treasure Hunt, sponsored by Donegal Times. At the starting line, we had the usual chorus of cackles from competitors, wishing each other the worst of luck before setting off under the watchful eye of the timekeeper Brian O’Sullivan. The first leg of the Great Race saw the competitors seemingly have fun as they navigated their way round and round Donegal Town. The second leg brought the cars through the treacherous streets of Monte Carlo where great crowds lined the route to cheer on their favourites. The first car to come screaming through was Peadar McGinty in his 1961 Hilman Minx, followed closely by the McCauley Family in their 98 Primera. From here cars took a different turn, when they were seen crisscrossing the roads looking for the clues that let them through Glencoagh, and eventually back to Donegal Town. Delirious with excitement and anticipation the first cars crossed the finishing line in record time, congratulations to Jason and Conor - unfortunately the pair had none of the answers right! Michael Gallagher noted that some of the hand signal given by certain competitors would never be found in any rules of the road handout. Eventually, after two hours and thirteen minutes, Peader McGinty Minx flashed across the finishing line - winners of the this years ‘It’s a Mad Mad World Great Easter Egg Race’.
The winners of the Draw were Noreen McGlynn and Sharon Kelly Killybegs. All Proceeds in Aid of The Twinning Association
The Chairperson of the Twinning Association, Patricia Callaghan, wishes to extend her thanks to sponsors Donegal Times and to the Committee Paul Green, Kevin Quinlan, Brian O’Sullivan, Jeremy St Clare and to Eddie Marshall for all his work.

Bosco Notes
Success in Nenagh

St John Bosco athletes had another very successful weekend at the Nenagh Indoor Arena on 3rd/4th April when Part 2 of the All Ireland Indoor Juvenile Track and Field Championships took place
The Boys Under 15 - 4 x 200m team of Ronan Harvey, Christopher Britton, Paul McIntyre and Jarleth Ruane won Silver in one of the most keenly contested and exciting finals of the day.The St John Bosco quartet qualified for the final when winning their heat impressively and in, a ding-dong final where the lead changed a number of times, they had to give way to a very good Celbridge team - 2 metres seperated Gold and Silver - but they overcame both Feeybank [Waterford] and Listowel to claim silver medals.
The Girls Under 13 - 4 x 100m team of Jessica Martin, Louise Harvey, Aoife OConnor and Kitty OKennedy ran very well and finished 5th fastest team of the fourteen qualifiers, missing the final by one place. The girls Under 12 team of Ciara Griffin, Molly O’Gara, Louise Harvey and Mary OKennedy ran well and finished 3rd in their heat, but did not advance to the final.
In the individual events Paul McIntyre qualified for the Boys Under 15 - 800m final where he finished 5th while Rachael Crawford in her first visit to an All Ireland final competed exceptionally well and finished a very good 7th in the Girls Under 14 Walk
A sincere thank you to all the parents and coaches who travelled down to Nenagh and congratulations and well done to all the athletes.

Easter Athletics Camp
Tir Chonaill athletics club host athletics camp on 13/14/15th April in the St John Bosco Centre. This is an ideal opportunity for children in the 8 to 14 age group to experience the many skills and disciplines of the sport of athletics.The number ofplaces at the camp is limited. For further information contact Eamon Harvey 0749721578
Eamon Harvey

Tir Chonaill A.C.

Preparations underway for Europe

Fudraising to send team to Belgium

Tir Chonaill athletics club, earlier this week announced that their preparation for the European Clubs C/ships in Gent, Belgium at the end of May were progressing according to plan.
Last August, the Donegal Town based club made history when it became the first North West group to win the prestigious Mazda National Premier League. As a result Tir Chonaill qualified and was invited to represent Ireland in the 2004 European Clubs. This competition will find a group of young athletes, all home grown and coached, moving onto a new competitive platform, where they will be opposed by the best in Europe.
At the club’s AGM, early in the new year, all athletes/officials committed themselves to gaining as high a position as possible in this prestigious competition and put training, competitive and fund raising structures in place in order to achieve there goal
The competitive build-up has been good with club athletes having an excellent indoor season, culminating in winning four medals at the recent National Indoors in Belfast. Subsequently, a club group of twelve, including athletes and coaches, spent one week at a warm weather training camp in the Algarve.
As the club prepares for the European clubs, a large competitive presence at the National Indoor Relays and Irish Universities Track and Field will be used to assess form and fitness.
A fundraising sub-committee, headed by Treasurer John Cannon, has the daunting task of ensuring that the party of twenty-four will be subsidised and supported.

Launch of Ardara GAA book

The book is “Idir Peil agus Pobal” is 884 pages of Ardara GAA and the people of the Parish, ........bones and all! The story touches every family in the parish at some stage since before the turn of the 20th Century, when Cross Country hurling was played in the Glengesh Valley. Over 600 photographs included since the first Senior team photo was taken in 1922. The book will be launched in the Lake House Hotel, Narin, on Friday 16th April with guest speaker Martin Carney. Our other launches fall take place as follows: Dublin - Portobello Hotel on Friday 23rd April; New York - Molloy’s Bar on Saturday 1st May; 57-82 Moshulu Avenue, Bronx 10471. Contact John Keeney, johnskeeney@hotmail.com or Pat McGill, mcgillsny@aol.com. London - Tirconaill Gaels Clubhouse on 8th May. Contact Steven Campbell 00-44- 777-4725891.