A sunny and cool day greeted competitors at the Celtic 100k foot race, which took place in Galway, Ireland on 28 March 2009. The 100km (62.1 miles) road race incorporated the 2009 Anglo Celtic Plate competition between the home nations of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.
The Mayor of Galway, Councillor Padraig Conneely, was on hand to start the race at 08:00. The event was overseen by race director and organiser, Richard Donovan.
In the men's competition, England's Jez Bragg ran a stellar race to take the individual title in a world class 6:58:00. The winning time, a PB for Bragg, meant he ran each mile at an average pace of under 6 minutes 44 seconds. He was followed by Germany's Stefan Hinze and England's Allen Smalls in second and third place, respectively. The Anglo Celtic Plate team competition was retained by England with Scotland second and Ireland third.
Helena Crossan brought great cheer to the home crowd when she overtook England's Heather Foundling-Hawker in the latter stages to take the female title. Crossan, the Irish 100km record holder with a PB of 7:52:45 settled for a time of 8:11:04 on this occasion. Angie Sadler of England finished in third position to ensure England retained the Anglo Celtic Plate team title for women ahead of Scotland and Ireland.
Strong teams were entered by the German Ultramarathon Federation in the open section of the race to make for an exciting competition. The flat 2km circuit by the seafront also contributed to numerous PBs being set in the event.
The Celtic 100k is Ireland's first world-ranking IAU-labelled ultramarathon and was made possible by the help of the Galway City Council, the Gardai and Irish Defence Forces. It is anticipated that Galway might become the setting for World 100km and 24-Hour Championships.
For more information and complete results of the Celtic 100k, see www.celtic100k.com.
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