Newport’s Wright completes 48-Hour World Ultra Marathon Championships

Newport Athletic Clubs Paula Wright secured a top-5 finish in the gruelling 48-hour Ultra Marathon World Championships which took place in Gloucester, England recently.

Wright competed in the singlet of her native Finland in both the individual and team competition and joined forced with Marianne ??? with whom she won the team silver medal with.

64 runners from 18 countries took part in the race, of all ages, abilities and running styles. The mindset among the competitors was “You love running you run, You can't run you walk, You can't walk you crawl.” It was about staying going no matter what and in the end all competitors went through the pain barrier.

“Some gave up but not many. Many who gave up early came back later. Things go wrong then you try to fix it,” Paula said.

“Ultra running is like running during bad weather. If you wait for the good weather/day you might not get out ever. It is not easy. It is not pretty. You just need to stick with it. You need to be stubborn or crazy. I am not sure which one am I yet, but time will tell I suppose.”

Day 1 was expected to be warm with rain coming for day 2 with heavier going from Saturday to Sunday - and raining until the end. It changed a bit and when it does,

Expectations change.

On day one, Paul tried to run slowly, and took lots of breaks trying to manage the heat and try to avoid dehydration. It started to cool down around 6 - 7pm. Her first night went fine.

“I didn't get any wonderful energy boost and going into the second day I had 170k ran and I was wondering how that would go,” she added.

Day 2 remained humid, but the competitors got a serious energy boost by the arrival of the competitors for the 24-hour marathon who were running faster and helped drag the 48-hour runners along.

Gusting wind and rain arrived before the closing stages on the Sunday morning saw the heavens opened and it got wet and colder.

“That was my lowest moment in the tent when I wondered how on earth I would go out as I was shaking and my feet were raw,” Paula explained.

Around the 42 hour mark, Wright got a second wind and began to run lap after lap pretty confidently.

“I ran my heart out,” she said. “I felt crazy and even passed the leading man a few times. I knew I was being crazy, but it just was my moment of the race to feel good.”

When only two hours were left to go, lots of runners came back onto the course and Paula had not much to give but she crossed the line to finish fifth in the ladies race and eleventh overall, completing 291km in the 48-hours, which was 729 laps of the 400m athletics track.

Team-mate Marianne ?? won the individual bronze medal in a Finnish record and the combined third and fifth places saw the pair claim the team silver medals.

“It is an honour to place that high in this third 48-hour World Championships and to wear the country shirt proudly,” Paul concluded, thanking the Finnish Ultra Running Association (Suomen Ultrajuoksuliitto) for supporting the trip, as well as her family, Newport AC, The Workshop Newport, and her running buddies, for their support in her preparations.

One thing is for sure, Paula Wright is already planning her next challenge.