Two young athletes from Donegal have been named as the 2026 winners of the prestigious John Carlin Award. The awards are given for outstanding performances in the finals of the Primary Schools Athletics Challenge, held at Finn Valley AC. Lukas Janosik of Scoil Iosagan in Buncrana and Cranford National School’s Sadhbh McBride were presented with their awards last Thursday. School principal James Whoriskey described it as a very important day for the school and also athletics. He thanked the coaches at Cranford AC for giving their time to allow the children to train. At the primary schools finals, Sadhbh won the 2015 girls 600m, out-kicking her opponents in fine style down the home straight. She also took victory in the 2015 long jump. The award is named in memory of John Carlin, the late Crossroads man who was a former Ulster champion and Donegal high jump record holder. His son Sean Carlin, a former national senior champion who held the Donegal record in the decathlon of 7,226 points from the 1970’s until recent weeks, was on hand to make the presentations in the company of former Irish Athletics Team Manager Patsy McGonagle and Cranford AC Chairman Eamon Giles.
