Five ultra-running athletes from Galway will participate in the 2018 Energia 24 Hour Race this Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June 2018 in Victoria Park in Belfast.
Galway's Valerie Glavin (43) of Athenry will be among the competitors. Valerie holds the Irish Indoor 24-hr record (218km/135 miles) which she set back in 2011 in Finland.
The Energia 24-hour race is an endurance race where competitors run as many laps of the 1,652 metre course as they can in 24 hours. Now in its ninth year, Energia has sponsored the race since its establishment, expanding its involvement over the years to title sponsor.
With close to 300 athletes competing, the Galway ultra-runners will run against athletes from Australia, Japan, New Zealand as well as Europe, the UK and Ireland.
Valerie Glavin (43) will be joined by fellow Galway ultra-runners Izabela Polchowska (4) from Galway, Myriam Shaughnessy (40) from Loughrea and Aidan Sheridan (40) from Ballinasloe. Sean Flaherty (45) from Athenry will compete in the 100km event.
Race Director, Ed Smith commented; "It is remarkable the depth of long-distance running talent that is arriving from Galway on the Energia 24 start-line and the participation from counties all across Ireland gets stronger and stronger each year."
Michael Ringland, Energia's PR and Events Manager, said, "The Energia 24 Hour Race is an internationally renowned ultra-running event that we are proud to support. It has steadily grown in popularity over the years and the fact that the level of participation is higher than most comparable races internationally is testament to the work of the 24 hr race team. The caliber of competitor from Galway taking part is an indication of how competitive the race has become and we look forward to cheering them on."
