Heroic Offaly woman races to super third at National Senior Cross Country Championships

DANIELLE Donegan produced one of the performances of her young life as she raced to a superb bronze medal at the National Senior Cross Country Championships in Gowran, Kilkenny on Sunday.

It was the biggest achievement of a very promising running career as Donegan finished third behind the winner, Fiona Everard of Bandon AC and Mary Mulhare, Portlaoise AC.

The three medal winners along with Armagh's Fionnuala Ross sped clear of the field around the half way mark. Everard was a clear winner of the brutally tough 9,000 metres race in 36.32, almost forty seconds ahead of Mulhare (37.10) who got in a fraction ahead of Donegan (37.10).

A member of Tullamore Harriers and a student at University College Dublin, Donegan comes from a great Tullamore running family with her parents, John and Marie and siblings all very keen runners.

She was the first U-23 in the race and her heroic running will secure her selection on the Irish U-23 team for the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels on December 10 - she had over two minutes to spare over the second U-23, Lucan Harriers' Aoife Coffey who ran 40.25. Donegan ran at the European U-23 Cross Country Championships in Turin last year.

Donegan's tour-de-force also enabled Tullamore Harriers to take bronze medals in the national senior team event – Rahan woman, Emily Grennan was 27th and Ballinagar native, Nita McLoughlin came home a very satisfying 55th in a very competitive race.