Aine Gallagher competing in the 2014 Energia 24-Hour Race.

Five Mayo runners taking on 24-hour race

EXCITEMENT is building for the 2017 Energia 24-Hour Race, which will take place on Saturday, July 1, in Victoria Park, Belfast. Five runners from Mayo are competing this year.

Donna McLoughlin from Achill will be running for Achill Ultra. She is a former Energia 24-Hour Race champion. Deirdre Lynn and Fionnuala O’Mara are both from Ballina. Aine Gallagher is running for Mayo AC and Pat Staunton is competing for Westport AC.

Last year’s winner, Eoin Keith from Cork, ran an incredible 242 kms in 24 hours.

This year the event is being run alongside the World 24-Hour Running Championships on July 1 and starts at 12 noon. The entry list includes 74 men and 26 women, with ages ranging from 27 to 67, and all looking to see how far they can go in that 24-hour period.

Entries came in from across the UK and Ireland and from as far away as Australia, France, Hong Kong, Iran, India, South Korea and the USA.

Now in its eighth year, this year’s event sold out in record time in December last. All 100 places were snapped up in under three hours.

Ed Smith, race director, commented: “It’s going to be a memorable weekend’s racing in Belfast and hopefully people will come out to support all the runners who are capable of posting some remarkable distances in the 24-hour period.”