Visually impaired athlete Sinead Kane from Cork finishes 2nd in Belfast 12 hour Ultra

Last weekend (Fri 17th & Sat 18th July 2015), the Energia 12 and 24 Hour Race was held at the Mary Peter's track in Belfast. Both races started at 6:45pm on Friday evening with the 12 hour contestants finishing at 6:45am on Saturday morning. The 24 hour runners finished at 6:45pm on Saturday evening.

Sinead Kane with her guide runner John O'Regan

In the 12 hour race, Sinead Kane from Youghal, Co.Cork finished in second place with an hugely impressive total of 68.3 miles. That works out as 10m 32s minute mile pace which includes any stops.

To put that into context, it's the same as starting from Patrick Street in Cork City and running to O'Connell Street in Limerick City and then adding on another 8 miles.

Pace wise, it's the same as doing two 4:36 marathons back to back without a rest and then doing an extra 16 miles!

Apart from the physical fitness, it's obvious that to complete such a distance requires a huge amount of determination and mental discipline. You need to be able to run to what feels like the point of exhaustion and then beyond into the unknown.

These are some of the notable dates in Sinead's running career so far...
1) 2012...Starts running and completes first 10k
2) June 2014...Completes the Cork City Half-Marathon in 1h 49m
3) Oct 2014...Completes the Dublin City Marathon in 4h 01m. First visually impaired female runner to complete the Dublin City Marathon.
4) Feb 2015...Completes the Donadea 50k in 4h 52m. First Irish visually impaired runner to complete an Ultra-Marathon.
5) Mar 2015...Completes the Tralee Marathon in 3h 55m.
6) July 2015...2nd woman in the Belfast 12 hour. First visually impaired runner to take part in event.

Sinead's guide for the 12 hour race was John O'Regan who has represented Ireland on several occasions in International 24 hour races.

As locations go, it is a stunning location with the track hemmed in on two sides by a large embankment and surrounded by woodland.

As well as Sinead, there were a number of other runners from Cork in action there as well.

In the 12 hour race, John Hallahan of Leevale AC completed 53.7 miles.

In the 24 hours race, Eoin Keith who is originally from Cork finished in first place with 141.9 miles covered (228.4kms). Eddie Gallen was second with 222.566kms. Both Eoin and Eddie achieved the IAAF B standard of 220kms for a 24 hour race.

Other Cork runners in the results were Grellan McGrath of Eagle AC who completed 103.1 miles, his second time breaking the 100 mile barrier after winning the Connemara 100 mile back in 2013.

And finally but certainly not least, Jerry Forde completed 55.6 miles. He was the first wheelchair athlete to take part in the Belfast 24 hour race.

Photos...
1) NI Running have 2 albums...#1 & #2