Foyle Valley AC: 25 years and still going strong

Wednesday, September 30 1992 is a date that will forever standout in local sporting history.

On that day 25 years ago, one of Derry’s most recognisable sports club’s – Foyle Valley AC was born.

The club has gone on to reach heights and surpass all of its early expectations since its creation all of those years ago.

Foyle Valley stalwart Harry McNulty told the Derry News of the club’s humble beginnings.

“At the time, there was only one athletics club in the town,” Harry explained. “A few people were disillusioned with how that club was being run and a decision was made to form a new club.

“When we met it was decided that it was to be a new start. There was no real plan as such. It was all about providing an opportunity to people wanted to compete.

“There was no limits on who could join or what their ability was, it was just about giving people the chance to run. The thinking at the time was ‘anybody who wants to run, can run.”

The colour purple

When you think of Foyle Valley, the first thing that comes to mind is purple.

When the club was established, one of the first things on the agenda was the selection of its colours.

Despite not being remotely related to Derry, purple was chosen as Foyle Valley’s colours, partly inspired by the success of Loughborough College athletes in England, whose alumni include running legends, Seb Coe and Paula Radcliffe.

“We picked purple for the club’s vest for a couple of reasons,” Harry said. “One reason was that some of the lads were looking at the success that Loughborough College in England was having at the time and thought it would be good to have purple.

“I think the main reason was that we wanted a colour that would stand out. We needed something that would separate us from the rest.

“Red was already taken by the other club in the town and we didn’t want green. So we went with purple because at the time no other clubs had the colour. Now a few club’s have purple like Convoy AC and Springwell.”

Early achievements

Despite being a small club of less than 30 athletes, Foyle Valley showed they would be force to be reckoned with in its early days.

Only a year after it was established the purple vests showed their class by claiming the Finbarr Doran Memorial Cross Country event with Kevin Kelly winning silver in the individuals.

The following year they were at it again on the grass as Foyle Valley were the overall winners of the B Division NIAAA event in the Cross Country and Road Winter League. They followed this up in April ’94 with success in the Lisburn Cup 10k.

However the best was yet to come, as less than five years after its birth Foyle Valley was to make history and become the first club north of the border to capture the National Marathon title in both the Senior and Vets categories, allowing Derry to host the event the following year.

Proving their victory was no fluke the purple vests claimed Senior Men’s, Men’s Vets and Women’s Vets titles in the National Marathon championships.

According to Harry, the club’s prowess at marathon running was bore out of a core group of athletes.

“We didn’t have one or two spectactular runners at the time but we did have a small group of really good dedicated runners, who were capable of running 2h 30 marathons, which no other club had then - that won us those early titles and really cemented us as a club.

"From then on, the club has won lots of titles and individual honors."

The future

As a founding member of the club, the most satisfying thing of the past 25 years for Harry has been the continued success and growth of the club.

“Those were lean years in the early days,” Harry said. “For a long time we were a club of only the size of about 20 to 30 athletes and now we have grown to well over 150 which is brilliant. The club has not only grown but it is now thriving with the amount of athletes we have competing at different distances.

“Back then there wasn’t the amount of people running like there is now. You look about the town now and the place is packed with runners and we have benefitted greatly because of it.

“We have more members now than at any time but the club is still the same mixed-ability club that it always has been. It doesn’t matter how good you are, you’ll always have a place here in Foyle Valley.”