McGuinness carries on form to win on Sunday

The event, which started and finished in Ebrington Square, followed a testing tour around both banks of the river Foyle.

Over 300 finished the race which served as a perfect scene-setter in advance of the June 1st SSE Airtricity Walled City Marathon, where 1,500 runners are expected to stride out over much of the terrain covered last Sunday.

McGuinness was always prominent, showing at the front as the runners completed their initial loop inside the Ebrington site and gradually imposed himself on his rivals to come home a clear winner in 55 minutes 56 seconds, comfortably ahead of Ciaran McGinley of Rosses AC, Donegal, whose 57 minutes and 37 seconds just got him home in front of another Foyle Valley man Pius McIntyre’s 57 minutes and 40 seconds.

McGuinness, who won last Wednesday night’s Creggan 5K in fine style, is clearly in fine form and was a worthy victor on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the women’s race honours went to Lifford AC star Claire McGuigan, 20th overall in a battling 65 minutes and 14 seconds and she had just over a minute to spare over City of Derry’s ageless ‘Master’ Anne Paul, who posted 66 minutes and 18 seconds for the runners-up spot with another North-West runner, Evelyn McGinley, of Inishowen AC third on 71 minutes and 44 seconds.

The top two fought out a tough battle for most of the race but McGuigan’s recent spell of good results including a fine second in the Inishowen Half Marathon a few week ago, gave her the edge over the 50+ Paul who nevertheless has bounced back recently from a lengthy injury induced layoff.

Fourth placed Mark Mullan showed he is in fine shape, his 58 minutes and 23 seconds clocking giving him the M35-44 age group prize.