Wright wins Irish 24-hour Running title for a second time

Newport Athletic Club’s Paula Wright won the 24-hour Irish Running Championships for a second time in Belfast last week.

It was the second time Wright won the race, adding to the win in 2019 which was the last time she competed in the event, and the third time overall as she was runner-up in 2018.

Since then there has been a reduction in the number of competitors largely because of the proficiency of ultra-running events, not only in Ireland but also further afield.

Paula made a late decision to enter, after coming back from a family holiday so she had little preparation and supports on the day.

The race began at high noon in warm and humid conditions, but Paula began well in the first few hours before she began to develop nausea which she battled through, along with a number of other competitors.

Moving into the evening, nighttime running was okay, but her legs were grilled, and she could feel blisters coming. However, at some stage she found the timing link and realised she was in the lead, despite all her difficulties.

It was like a cat and mouse race despite Paula’s running having gone to a shuffle. She was in pain, inside and outside. She felt like quitting on numerous occasions, but she kept telling herself that she couldn’t travel all the way to Belfast to quit and that she could get to the end.

For the last few hours, she still managed to dig out some kind of running rhythm but for the last hour she had nothing to give but finished the 24-hours running just over 190 kilometres, almost thirteen kilometres ahead of her nearest challenger. Impressively she finished fourth overall with the leading male running 236km over the 24 hours.