A team from Letterkenny’s Sanctuary Runners group took the silver medal in the Donegal Half Marathon relay. It was the second year in a row that the fantastic trio of Opeyemi (Hopsy) Adeyemi, Chibuzor (Victor) Ogoegbunam and Menad Yahioaui romped home second, with an impressive time of one hour, 31 minutes and 43 seconds amid
A team from Letterkenny’s Sanctuary Runners group took the silver medal in the Donegal Half Marathon relay.
It was the second year in a row that the fantastic trio of Opeyemi (Hopsy) Adeyemi, Chibuzor (Victor) Ogoegbunam and Menad Yahioaui romped home second, with an impressive time of one hour, 31 minutes and 43 seconds amid a strong field of 50 teams. In the team event each member covers 7K individually of the 21.2K course around Letterkenny.
Another member of the Letterkenny Sanctuary Runners family, Emmanuel Phillip, ran the entire tough course, half of it under extremely difficult weather conditions, in just under two hours. This amazing feat wasn’t Emmanuel’s only achievement. He also fundraised for the Sanctuary Runners organisation which uses sport to help communities get to know each other and foster integration, all while improving physical and mental health.
Hopsy and Victor, who are originally from Nigeria, along with Menad from Algeria, trained hard together in the Letterkenny hills in the months leading up to the race, as well as regularly joining up with their fellow SR group members every other Saturday where they take part in the local parkrun.
The ‘Donegal Half’ has become an important and highly anticipated fixture in Sanctuary Runners’ calendar with members not only running the race, but many others putting themselves forward to help out via the Donegal Volunteer Centre. This year Sanctuary Runners were tasked with manning the important and extremely busy first water station, where they, in their distinctive blue tops, cheered on the participants as well as handing out the much needed refreshments.
Letterkenny SR group, which is almost 40 strong, will mark its fifth year anniversary this month (September).
“The Donegal Half Marathon is always such a welcoming and positive occasion,” said one of the Letterkenny group leaders, Kelly Bonner, “it’s no wonder it’s known as the People’s Event and fits so well with what Sanctuary Runners is all about.”
“We are grateful to the organisers for putting on such a well-run and joyous community event and were delighted to be able to offer our support to both the organisers and the participants,” she said. “Everyone really enjoyed it. Of course we are so proud of all the Sanctuary Runners who ran the race, volunteered and supported.”
“I was thrilled and proud to represent Sanctuary Runners in the Donegal Half Marathon Relay Event,” said Victor. “My segment was originally a 7K leg, but after handing over the baton to my teammate, I decided to push through and finish the full 21.2K race. It was definitely a tough run!”
“As always the atmosphere was incredible. It was especially wonderful to have the support of my loving wife Maureen and my Sanctuary Runners teammates and the hundreds of Letterkenny locals who lined the streets to cheer us on. This silver medal isn’t just for Sanctuary Runners Letterkenny but for Sanctuary Runners worldwide. We’ll definitely be aiming for the Gold next year!”
As well as the Letterkenny group, Sanctuary Runners also has a group in Buncrana and is always keen to welcome new members. For details on how to join contact
