The World 24 Hour Championships will be held in Victoria Park, Belfast on July 1st & 2nd. There will be around 40 nations participating and over 400 athletes will compete. Ireland will be represented by strong teams in both the men’s and women’s races.
The teams are as follows:
Men's Team:
Eddie Gallen (captain)
Eoin Keith
Darragh O’Loughlin
Aidan Hogan
Malcolm Gamble
Tim Brownlie
Women's Team:
Ruthann Sheahan
Amy Masner
Yvonne Naughton
Louise Smart
Susan McCartney
Catherine Guthrie
John O’Regan is team manager and Gary McConville will lead the support team.
Some of the team members have vast experience in this event. Ruthann has a number of top 10 performances at World and European level in this event while Eoin has recorded numerous international victories in events of 24 hours and multi-day events. Ruthann has a personal best of 229.346k while Eoin has covered 244.64k within the timeframe. Eddie has a long history of competing for Ireland in this event and will captain the team in his native city. They are joined by Tim, Yvonne, Louise and Catherine who will make their international debuts. It’s an even more notable occasion for Tim and Susan who are siblings.
This race also incorporates the Irish 24H championships which provides further incentive and makes it even more interesting for the athletes.
