Fermanagh native on her success in ultramarathon running

Having been part of the Enniskillen Running Club and tried her hand at mountain climbing and cycling among other activities in the past, Jenny stumbled across ultramarathon running when she signed up for Florida Manor Last One Standing in County Down as part of training to compete in an Ironman event during the pandemic. 

Jenny’s husband, Lee York, was keen to try his hand at an Ironman with his 50th birthday approaching. This led Jenny to compete in the run at Florida Manor where she more than exceeded her expectations. 

“I was actually training for my first Iron Man event, and we had been in Lanzarote training for a couple of weeks, came home, lockdown started, and we were right at the peak of our fitness looking for something to do, so I took up running long miles,” Jenny explained. 

“I did a few virtuals and then my first ever real event was Florida Manor Last One Standing, and I did 100 miles out of nowhere which wasn’t really expected. 

"People don’t normally rock up at these things and do 100 miles. I did the Lanzarote triathlon after that, got through that OK and I’ve just kept the two up ever since.” 

After developing a love for ultramarathon running and triathlons, Jenny has gone on to compete in various events since 2020 and has represented Ireland. 

She finished first in her age category in the Four Nationals 100km Championship as part of the Sri Chinmoy UK Races back in March with a time of 09:08:15. 

“It’s a four-nations championship, so it’s England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales,” she said. 

“I mean they call it the four nations but there’s actually five because there’s a southern Irish team and a Northern Irish team, so there’s an annual competition for the Anglo-Celtic Plate Cup.

"We compete against each other and there’s also an open class so people can compete against each other. 

"It’s been going on for several decades and that’s the third one of them that I have done. It was my first win in it, I’ve had quite a few podium-placed finishes at ultras since I started. 

Jenny Elliot York crosses the finish line at the Four Nationals 100km championship. (Image: Cuilcagh Triathlon Club)

"I was first lady at the Norn Iron 100 which is a 107-mile race that goes along the North Coast and drops down to Gortin, that was in June of last year.” 

An ultramarathon differs from a standard marathon, with it being anything over 42.195km, which can go on for hours.

Jenny competed in the Kerry Way Ultra which took her an astonishing 29 hours and 27 minutes without a break. 

“There’s an awful lot of science and preparation go into it. You have to be really clued in on your pacing, nutrition and hydration and just keeping everything right because if any one of those goes then that’s the end of your race,” she added. 

“You try to keep moving as much as possible, if you stop your muscles tend to tighten up, and it’s much harder to get going again.

"You would tend to adopt more of a walk-run strategy. You’ll walk while you’re eating or drinking until you come to particularly steep hills but apart from that you try to keep running. You don’t really stop unless you absolutely have to.”

Jenny and Lee are part of the Cuilcagh Triathlon Club. They train and compete alongside other keen athletes in the Fermanagh area with Jenny highly recommending it to any keen runners. 

“They’re fantastic, I would have joined them back in 2018-2019. They are an incredible club, small very close, very friendly, very helpful, and will go out of their way to help you with everything, support you with everything. 

"My first few ultramarathons, obviously during Covid, they would have come out and some of them would have run along with me or biked along with me just to keep me going to the end but incredible support.”

Jenny has competed in sporting events in Lanzarote, Berlin and Chicago and has set her sights on the Marathon Majors with marathons in Boston, Tokyo and New York next on her bucket list, as well as two Ironman events this year; Austria in June and Frankfurt in August. 

She has no intentions of slowing down. Despite a busy few years, Jenny believes the experiences she has gained through different events have been priceless. 

“I love being able to push myself that little bit further just to see if I can get a bit more,” she said. 

“You never know about these things until, it doesn’t matter how well your training has gone until you get started, there’s so many variables, there’s so many things that can go either way, but I’ve met such a lovely bunch of people through it. 

"All quite crazy to be honest, but really good support, really good, fun people and you get to go to amazing places.

"The Irish events I’ve done, you're running off the beaten track. You're running off trails, you're running through the night, so, you get to see these amazing moonlit scenes and you're outside running when the sun comes up and you can’t really put into words how special that is.”