Caitríona Jennings competed in the women’s marathon at the 2012 London Olympic Games, lining up at the start having sustained a stress fracture and plantar fasciitis in the build-up to the event.

From Letterkenny, County Donegal, she attended Loreto Convent Secondary School before studying Law and Accountancy at the University of Limerick and working as a tax advisor with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dublin.

She comes from a remarkable sporting family – her sister is Sinéad Jennings (née Lynch), who competed in the lightweight double sculls at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games alongside Claire Lambe, becoming one of the first Irish female crews to reach an Olympic A final.

A former junior international triathlete who also competed at national level in cycling, Jennings made the transition to marathon running and qualified for London with a personal best of 2:36:17 at the Rotterdam Marathon in April 2012, coached throughout by Terry McConnon.

She has gone on to become one of Ireland’s most distinguished ultra-distance runners, winning the IAU 50km European Championships, earning a bronze medal at the IAU 100km World Championships, holding Irish records at 50km and 100km, finishing third at the Comrades Marathon in 2019, and in November 2025, aged 45, setting a world record for 100 miles at the Tunnel Hill event in Illinois, completing the distance in 12 hours, 37 minutes and four seconds on her debut at that distance.