Four Irish Ultramarathoners put up a tenacious performance in Taiwan over the weekend. The team representing Ireland at the event included Galway's own Richard Donovan as well as Tony Mangan, Martin Rea and Eoin Keith. All four runners took part in the IAU (International Association of Ultrarunners) 24 Hour World Challenge in Taipei (Taiwan). This gruelling event drew together most of the best ultramarathon runners in the world for one day's extreme racing. The event involves athletes completing as many kilometers as possible within the allocated 24 hour time limit. Many athletes will complete the event without any significant breaks.

The Irish foursome racked up some serious distances between them with Tony Mangan proving most to the team total with an impressive personal total of 228.229 Km (141.82 Miles) which was good enough for 16th place overall. Martin Rea completed 192.931 Km (119.88 Miles, 41st place), Richard Donovan contributed 163.958 Km to the total (101.88 Miles, 55th place) and Eoin Keith completed the team scoring with 145.192 Km (90.22 Miles, 66th place).

These were indeed courageous performances and were good enough to place the Irish team 11th in the International Team Competition.

Congratulations to the Irish Team.