We are proud to announce that the Belfast International 24-Hour Road Race will continue into its 11th year on Saturday 20th June 2020. This is the ultimate challenge and will be held at Victoria Park, Belfast.
The event began at the Mary Peters Track in 2010 and moved to Victoria Park in 2016 for its World Championship demonstration event and the World Championships followed in 2017. Northern Ireland Athletics and Belfast City Council have been supportive of this race for the whole duration of the event.
The race welcomes competitors from across the globe as in past years we have seen a World Record by Poland’s Patrycja Bereznowska running 260Km (162 miles) and obtaining four National records in 2017. In the 2019 race Sandra Brown from England broke an Age Group World Record for women over 70 years of age over the distances of 100 miles and 24 Hours.
Athletics Ireland has granted the race the AAI National 24-Hour Championship for 7 years in a row and next year will be the 8th year in 2020. The top athletes can run six marathons back to back.
The International Association of Ultra Runners (IAU) has awarded this race a gold label, the only one of its kind within the UK and Ireland. The IAU is based in Monaco and it operates under the patronage of the IAAF, delivering ultra-distance running internationally within the IAAF rules. It has more than 80-member federations.
There is a 24 Hour Road Relay included in the days’ events, which will consist of teams of 4 runners, and each runner will run 2 hours at a time. This is a great opportunity for running clubs and for other people to get a team together to take up this challenge. There will be teams for Men, Women and Mixed relay teams available. Other races available on the day will be as follows:
- Belfast 100 Mile Road Race
- Belfast 6 Hour Road Race
- Belfast 50K Run
Course Records
Men Yoshihiko Bereznowska (JPN) 270,870km 2017
Women Patrycja Bereznowska (POL) 259,991km 2017
Belfast Festival of Sport
We are proud to announce the first Belfast Festival of Sport to be held in Victoria Park, Belfast on Saturday 20th June 2020.
The Festival of Sport will focus on promoting a healthy life style for adults and children, encouraging them to take part in sport. There are many adults who, after not taking part in sport for a number of year, then return by taking part in the weekly 5k ParkRun and joining a local running group.
This Unites, Engages, Enriches, inspires, Encourages, Emboldens, Amazes individuals.
The Festival of Sport aims to help adults and children as well as young people, both disabled and able bodied, to achieve their sporting dreams and ambitions. There will be Wheelchair competitors who will have the opportunity to take part in the Festival of Sport 2K, 3K, 5K and the Belfast 10K distances. These athletes will go off 4 minutes prior to the Start of each race and their time will be recorded gun to chip.
The event is set to be a great day out for all the family and a chance for young budding athletes to race for the top spot. The races will be as follows:
- 2K- Under 11 Children/Family Run
- 3K- Under 13 Children/Family,
- 5k- Under 15 Children /Family Run
This will take place before the Belfast 10K Run. These events will see children of all ages running with their mums, dads, uncles, aunties and grandparents! They are not just a race for children, but are open to anyone who wants to take part, but perhaps isn’t quite ready for a 10K race.
