Kilkenny stars run into the record books

Two Kilkenny athletes ran their way into the record books over the weekend.

Stephen Murphy certainly went the distance as he shattered the Irish 100 mile record in Belfast. The Ballyragget native took almost 30 minutes off the national record when he won the Belfast 24 Hour Ultra in a time of 13 hours and 18 minutes. Murphy began the race in Victoria Park at 12 noon on Saturday and covered a total of 99 laps of the park.

His mental and physical strength was put to the test but endurance is no problem for him - last year he won the 100 mile ultra marathon in Connemara, while he has also completed a cycle around Ireland to raise funds for Teac Tom.

In preparation for Belfast he was clocking up 100 miles per week in training alongside strength and conditioning work to maintain his peak fitness levels - all achieved after recovering from a stress fracture of the tibia suffered earlier in the year!

Belfast proved to be a great location as Cathal O’Reilly raced his way into an elite club. Competing in the Belfast Milers Meet, the Harriers athlete broke the four minute mile barrier when he ran 3:59:26. In doing so he became only the second Kilkennyman to achieve that time, joining Eoin Everard in the record books.