A squad of six women and eight men had qualified for the event with the original line up changing before race day. The women's team was reduced to five and Dave Andrews with a PB of 244.417km was brought in to replace the injured Daragh O'Loughlin. On paper we had our strongest teams to date even though seven of them were running for the first time in a European Championships.
When the race started there were 29 Federations with 236 athletes on the start line with Ireland's Women team finishing in eight position and the Men in ninth.
Team Captain Ed McGroarty (Lifford Strabane AC) led the Team home in 17th position with a distance of 258.820 Km to set a new National Record. Anne Jennings (Dublin Bay Running Club) covered the top distance for the women to finish in 25th place with a personal best distance of 220.545 Km.
The individual titles went to Aleksandr Sorokin from Lithuania finishing with a new world record distance of 319.614Km (4:30K avg for 24hrs) and Patricja Bereznowska of Poland with a distance of 256.250Km.
Team Rankings
Women
1. Poland - 754.822Km
2. France - 731.729Km
3. Germany - 719.584Km
4. Great Britain - 691.931Km
5. Italy - 670.692Km
6. Czech Republic - 655.926Km
7. Spain - 639.527Km
8. Ireland - 636.462km
9 - Croatia - 625.135Km
10. Hungary - 605.082Km
https://iau-ultramarathon.org/Women%20team%20results%202022%20IAU%2024H%20EC.pdf
Men
1. Poland - 825.526Km
2. Lithuania - 817.916
3. Spain - 800.017Km
4. Great Britain - 791.643Km
5. Italy - 778.041Km
6. Sweden - 756.696Km
7. Hungary - 738.696Km
8. France - 729.921Km
9. Ireland - 727.715Km
10. Croatia - 721.715Km
https://iau-ultramarathon.org/Men%20team%20results%202022%20IAU%2024H%20EC.pdf
To date this is the best ever distances for the Ireland Women and Men's Teams in a European or World Championships. Well done to everyone involved!
