A number of happy Athenry runners can now designate themselves as Ultra Marathoners after completing the 50k trail race in Portumna on Saturday 16th June. They inlcude Noel Fox, Deirdre Quinn, Kieran Guirey, Maeve Noone, Aoife Callan, Janet Clancy, Patrick Forde, and Kenneth O'Hara. Congratulations to all of them on a great achievement.

Another happy man is Tony Killarney who finally broke the 3 hour mark in the marathon race on the same day with 2:59:31. What a superb achievement for a man who has just turned 55. The gold in his age category is a real possibility now for him at the National Championships in Dublin in October.

New member David Noone also had a great day in Portumna with a 4 hour and 58 seconds run in the 50k. Despite his youth, and who isn't young to most of us, David has previous experience with ultra runs, having completed a 24-hour race in tandem with a friend previously. (They took turns running and resting). But let's not forget Mick Rice who took the silver in the same race with a 3:29:06 run.

Most runners and some "alickadoos" astonished the proprietor at Bridgie Glynn's pub in Athenry later on that evening by gathering en masse there. Many - gasp - were even drinking alcohol, "carb replacement" according to Kieran Guirey. Happy 40th birthday to Maeve Noone, who provided the excuse to go out.

Photos at the URLs below, either as a as a slide show or individual photos.  Check out the photo of Iain telling a crestfallen runner that he has one more lap to go in the marathon (towards the end of the set).

Philip Magnier Photos:-

Slide show:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmagnier/sets/72157630166065730/show/

Individual photos:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmagnier/sets/72157630166065730

Iain Shaw Photos:-

Small selection of pics: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjA1ZmaU

Full picture gallery: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjA47EBE

Results at

http://www.runireland.com/news/results-forest-marathon-and-ultra-distance-races-forest-marathon-50km-and-100km-races-took-plac