ENERGIA BELFAST 24-HOUR RACE

They’ve stood on the top of Everest together ,now the Dromara husband-and-wife team of Noel and Lynne Hanna are taking on this Friday’s Energia Belfast 24-hour race together( 6.45pm start,Mary Peters track). And, Noel,43, will be on the start-line despite a badly frostbitten big toe picked up on his third ascent of Everest in May.
“ I was guiding a Russian climber, and had to spend longer than I expected getting off the summit,” he says. “ But it’s not too bad – and I’m hoping it’s going to be okay for the race.”

Noel holds the world record as the only man to have scaled the seven summits on the seven continents from sea-level. Yet, when his Everest adventure started he had to thank Lynne for giving up her summit bid back in 2006 to help Noel, who was suffering from snow blindness, down.

Lynne,48, got her chance again though two years later when they became only the second married couple in the world to stand on the roof of the world together.

Lynne is one of four women taking on the round-the-clock challenge in an 18 strong field that includes accountants,dentists, and a tree surgeon ranging in age from 23 to 59.

Eddie Gallen is flying in from Madrid. He’s completed 18  24-hour races. Fermanagh’s Thomas Maguire  holds the Irish record at 155 miles and then there’s Ballynahinch barrister Iryna Kennedy. Because of a stress fracture, she learned to swim last year. This summer she completed a relay swim of the English Channel.

Donemana’s Graeme Colhoun,37, has had a busy year. In May, he ran through the night from his  home to the start of the Belfast Marathon. When he finished the marathon he’d done 93.25 miles in just over 19 hours.

“ We can push ourselves so much further than we ever thought possible,” he says.

And then there’s Fionnuala O’Mara,44, a physio from Ballina. “ I live in fear and excitement of what lies ahead but I will persevere,” she says. “ until I’m dragged off the track or fall of it.”

 Race Director Ed Smith says: “  I’m delighted at the quality of the field assembled and delighted that Ireland’s first 24-hour race is being held in Belfast. Bit I’m also concerned for them all! Because this is a hell of an undertaking. It says mind over matter on their T-shirts and it will be – but I still expect several to go beyond the magical 100-mile mark – and I hope that lots of people drop down to the track on either Friday or Saturday to cheer them on–because they are all heroes in my book,” he says.

For More Information contact : Ed Smith on 07740818389 or ed_n_smith@hotmail.com

Or: Chloe Elliott on 02890760066 or Chloe.Elliott@jprni.com