Thousands turn out for 'Marty's Run'

The event had originally been planned for a Tuesday evening in mid-August but such was the level of interest, the organisers decided to postpone the event until a quiet Sunday morning in October to make it safer and easier to deal with the expected turnout of around 300 participants.

Registration for the run and walk opened at Templemore Sports Complex on Saturday morning and the Foyle Valley club soon realized that they had a big event on their hands when the 500 T-shirts that they had printed for the event were snapped up in the first two hours.

Over the course of Saturday and Sunday morning the entries reached a level of approx 550 for the run and 450 for the walk. Fortunately Foyle Valley had a large team of race marshals already in place to deal with such a great turn-out.

Club secretary, Joe Morrison, commented: "We had always known that any event which had Marty's name attached to it would have a good response from the many people in Derry who knew him. Not only was Marty a much admired athlete among his peers, he was held in high esteem, as a person, by everyone who ever came in contact with him.

"However, we were totally taken aback by the number of people who wanted to be part of this tribute to Marty. Not wanting to put a limit on those who wanted to take part we put in place extra safety measures and marshals to deal with the numbers.

"This included St. Johns Ambulance Service who attended in numbers with their ambulance. Many thanks to them."

The run started at 11am and was followed by the walkers 10 minutes later. Marty's cousin, Bronagh Gallagher, the well known Derry actress, started off both and then joined the walkers to complete the 5KM as well.

The competitive run almost became secondary on the day to the carnival atmosphere that seemed to pervade the crowds of people there to pay tribute to and celebrate the fine athlete and man that Marty was.

However, the race for the title of being the first winner of 'Marty's Run' soon got under way.

Local Sparta athlete, Emmett Mc Ginty won the men's race in a time of 15 minutes 47 seconds followed by Aaron Doherty, Sparta, in 15:53 and Foyle Valleys Scott Rankin in 15:56. A close battle between three young local runners which was fitting to the occasion.

Foyle Valley runner Dawn McDaid who has made a comeback to running in recent times, won the ladies trophy in 18 minutes 38 seconds. Aoife Laverty, Sparta was second lady in 19:51 followed by Bridgeen Byrne in 19:59. Aoife took the under 18 years prize and Bridgeen took the F45 category.

Category winners were, Paddy Doherty M35, Cathal McLaughlin M40, Gerry Duddy M45, Dermott Connolly M50, Peter Lilburn M55, Gerry Lynch M65 and Shane McGowan U18.

And the ladies, Sandra McKeever F35, Rose O' Brien F40, Bridgeen Byrne F45, Pauline Madden F50, Annette McIvor F55, Roisin Lynch F60 and Aoife Laverty FU18.

Foyle Valley would like to thank again the many sponsors who supported the event, Derry City Council, especially the Templemore Sports Complex staff, and St. Johns Ambulance Service for their invaluable presence.

Most of all congratulations and thanks to all those who turned out to make this a most memorable occasion and tribute to 'big Marty'