Ruthann Sheahan of Athenry AC sets new Irish 24 hour record in Poland...

At the 24 Hour World and European Championships in Katowice, Poland over the weekend, Ruthann Sheahan of Athenry AC set an new Irish womens 24 hour outdoor record. She covered an incredible 229.3 kms or 142,5 miles in the 24 hours, smashing the old record of 206.650 kms which was set back in 1996.

Not only did Ruthann's finish as 5th woman in Europe and 7th in the World but she was within 300 metres of the top Irish man John O'Regan who ran 229.6 kms.

Just in case you are wondering just what kind of speed that is, 229.3 kms in 24 hours works as 9.55 kms per hour which is 10 min/mile pace for a whole day!

Ruthann is originally from Leap in West Cork and now lives in Galway. She is also a former winner of the Dingle 50 mile Ultra-Marathon.

Ruthann's teammate Valerie Glavin is the current holder of the Irish womens 24 hour indoor record of 217.8 kms set back in 2011 in Finland. Athenry AC can now boast of having two Ultra distance record holders in their ranks!

European Championship Womens...
5th place Ruthanne Sheahan 229.3 km.....5th in Europe, 7th in World
Deirdre Finn 103km 73rd place

European Mens:
25th place John O Regan...229.6 km 31st in World
33rd place Eddie Gallen.....226 km 42nd in World

Valerie Glavin of Athenry AC sets new 24 hr distance record

Picture this....an indoor track....in Finland....a race which is run over a set time rather than over a set distance....and that time is 24 hours.....and you keep doing loop after loop after loop....and you have some idea of the crazy world of Ultra-Running. Four members of Athenry AC made the long trip to Espoo in Finland to take part in this 24 hour race last weekend.

The fastest of the 4 was Valerie Glavin who ran a distance of 217.8 kms (~135 miles) in the 24 hours. In the process, she set a new Irish 24 hour indoors distance record for women. Just to put that in context, 217 kms is like running just over 5 full Marathons back to back!! It also works out as an average of 10.4 min/mile pace which when you consider time lost to necessary breaks is amazing....(Avg pace per Marathon 4h 39m!)

In terms of position, she finished in a very credible 2nd place with Sumie Inagaki of Japan finishing 1st (240.6 kms). Valerie also featured recently here in Cork when she won the Clonakilty Marathon back in December.

The 2nd Athenry runner home was Ruth Ann Sheehan who finished in 188 kms (~118 miles). Ruth Ann who is originally from Cork but now lives in Galway won the inaugral 50 mile Ultra-Marathon in Dingle last September.

The other two Athenry AC runners were......Mick Rice (165 kms / 103 miles) who was the winner of the Connemara 100 mile last Summer and Ray O'Connor (122 kms / 76 miles) who is the driving force behind the famous Connemarathon in April every year and recently completed his 100th Marathon.