Caitriona Jennings (born 17 June 1980; from

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( , meaning "hillside of the O'Cannons"), nicknamed the Cathedral Town, is a large town in County Donegal, Ireland, on the River Swilly in the north-west of Ulster. Along with the nearby city of Derry, Letterkenny is a regional eco ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

) is an Irish long distance runner who competed in the marathon at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, United Kingdom.

Early life

Jennings attended

Loreto Convent Secondary School, Letterkenny Convent Road () is located to the north of Letterkenny, County Donegal, in the parish of Conwal and Leck, Ireland. It is situated beside the Cathedral of St Eunan and St Columba and Cathedral Road, Letterkenny, Cathedral Road forms a link with ...

, and went on to study Law and Accountancy at the

University of Limerick University of Limerick (UL) () is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972, as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in Septemb ...

before taking up a job as a tax advisor with

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

in Dublin. She is the sister of Irish international rower and Rio 2016 Olympian Sinead Jennings.

Athletics

Jennings is a former

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

who represented Ireland at youth level. Since moving to Dublin she has trained with the

Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside (Dublin), southside suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland in County Dublin. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and Dublin 16, 16. It is between the Lo ...

club and has been coached by Terry McConnon since 2007. In December 2009 became involved with the Marathon Mission squad and in 2010 she won the Dublin Mini-Marathon. She ran her first marathon in Dublin in October 2011.

2012

Jennings achieved 'A' qualifying standard for the 2012 Olympics with a personal best time of two hours, 36 minutes and 14 seconds at the 2012

Rotterdam Marathon The Rotterdam Marathon, currently branded NN Rotterdam Marathon, is an annual marathon that has been held in Rotterdam, Netherlands since 1981. It has been held in April every year since the third edition in 1984 and attracts many top athletes. ...

. Having taken two months off of work to train full-time for Rotterdam, and competing in just her second full marathon, her qualifying time was an improvement of nearly seven minutes from her first marathon. Jennings was selected to represent Ireland at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the women's marathon along with Linda Byrne and Ava Hutchinson. Maria McCambridge, who had also run the 'A' qualifying standard missed out on selection as only three athletes from a nation may compete in the event. It was the first time that three Irish women have competed in the Olympic marathon. In June she won the Newry

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

in a time of one hour, 15 minutes and 25 seconds. Suffering from

plantar fasciitis Plantar fasciitis or plantar heel pain is a disorder of the plantar fascia, which is the connective tissue that supports the Arches of the foot, arch of the foot. It results in pain in the heel and Sole (foot), bottom of the foot that is usuall ...

and a

stress fracture A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced bone fracture caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated injury from repeated submaximal loading, such as running ...

, Jennings finished last in the marathon at the 2012 Olympics in a time of 3:22:11, an hour behind winner

Tiki Gelana Erba Tiki Gelana (; born 22 October 1987) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. Her personal best of 2:18:58 remained the Ethiopian national record for the event from 2012 to 2017. She won the 2011 Amsterdam Maratho ...

2021

Jennings won third place in the women's full marathon in the 2021 Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon, with a finishing time of 2:51:31.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Caitriona 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Letterkenny Athletes from Dublin (city) Irish female long-distance runners Olympic athletes for Ireland Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Alumni of the University of Limerick PwC people Athletes from County Donegal 21st-century Irish sportswomen