BECAUSE 26.2 MILES just aren’t enough for some people, tomorrow the International Association of Ultra Runners 50 and 100 km World Championships take place in Doha.
On the start line representing Ireland in the 50k race will be 29-year old Dubliner Orna Dilworth just four years after she took up running for the first time.
“It was a moment of madness to be honest,” Dilworth told TheScore.ie.
“I started running for no reason in particular. I was just out of college, had started working full time and just took up a bit of jogging. That New Year’s Eve I decided I’d do a half-marathon the following year and ran it in 2:05, but it was only a bit of fun.
“Then my first marathon was in Connemara in 2011 which I ran in 4:28. It was such a roller-coaster of emotions but it was a brilliant experience so I decided to keep running with friends and doing half marathons until a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to continue running two hour half marathons or if I wanted to train properly?”
That was the turning point for Dilworth and as her training improved, so did her times. By the time she ran the Dublin marathon in 2011 her PB was 3:53. She cut that to 3:12 in Berlin the following year and ran 3:06 in Boston the year of the bombing.
In the 2013 Dublin marathon, she finally broke the three hour barrier, coming home in 2:57. It was then she knew that ultra running was the obvious next step.
Advertisement
“A friend of my boyfriend Alan and I’s – Anthony Lee – is the race director for the Irish national 50km championships and he was trying to sell it to me for ages.
“One thing he said, and people always say, is that I’m built like a solid diesel engine because, while I’ll never run a 15 minute 5k, I could knock out 10, 20 minute 5ks in a row.
“So my coach, David Fitzpatrick, thought I had the ability – because my splits are always so consistent – to not just run in the the Irish 50k championships but to win it.
“With the qualification for the Worlds at 3:50, I knew I could run the additional five miles in 50 minutes based on my Dublin time in 2013 so I said we’d go for it.”
Go for it she did and Dilworth delivered on her coach’s expectations, winning in a time of 3:43.
Working full time as a solicitor with Bank of Ireland, Dilworth admits that fitting in a hectic training schedule can be difficult but, like anything, if you want to do it you can find the time.
While some weeks involved up to 92 miles on the road, a more typical training week in the build up to her national 50k win and the Worlds would involve somewhere between 70 and 80 miles per week and typically looked something like this:
Monday – Two runs totalling 10-11 miles Tuesday – One run, 8-12 miles taking the long way home from work Wednesday – A double day similar to Monday Thursday – One easy run, 8 miles or so Friday – One long run, 24 miles Saturday – Rest day Sunday – One run, a hard 10-12 mile above race pace
With all that training, food plays a vital role but Dilworth is keen to point out that – as long as you eat sensibly and healthily most of the time – there’s room for a glass of wine or dairy milk, in most training regimes.
She also admits she has been lucky with injuries, suffering just one injury that kept her away from running for a month after racing one marathon and pacing another in too short a time period.
Unlike a lot of runners though, she did take a full rest from running and didn’t put herself under any unnecessary pressure to come back too soon.
“I also think it’s because I wasn’t very sporty as a child and so I didn’t pick up any knocks to my knee or ankle so I’ve no legacy injuries.”
While Dilworth goes into Doha injury free, conditions in the Qatar mean that any likelihood of her setting a personal best went out the window the second she stepped off the plane.
“It’s very warm, I think about 35C at the moment and that hair-dryer heat.
“The race is due to start at 6pm local time so on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week we went out for a run at that time and it was still 32C so the heat will play a big part in my approach to the race meaning what I expected to achieve before arriving here and what I can in these conditions are two different things.
“Training wise I’d trained for a three hour marathon and then the five extra miles on top which would have seen me home in 3:35 and probably left me mid-pack.
“That would have meant six minute, 50 second miles but I’ve reassessed that to run by my heart rate and run the effort 6:50 would have been the equivalent to in these conditions so that could end up being 7:30 or eight minute miles.
“It’s about sensible running though, this is a championship race so it’s not necessarily about running for time. I’d rather enjoy the experience and complete the race than burn out up in five minutes.”
Great to hear this and I hope she does fantastic (and wins some food), I’d love to be able to run them kinds of distances but my broken body just won’t allow me.
It would be nice if, for once, an article about a female athlete didn’t descend into people commenting on her appearance and rather focused on her achievements.
She needs to carry as little weight as possible to compete at that level in ultra marathon running I’m pretty sure that her calorie in take is more than an av girl
Steven I agree with you! The comment about the burger is pathetic.
But notinng against this young lady(fair play and all the best to her) but other professional female athletes quite shamelessly trade on looks! Many go looks over sporting achievements.The Anna Kournakova effect! Plenty on the WTP tour do it.
Do they want to be viewed as athletes or models?
Runners need between 7 and 10 g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight during training and closer to the upper end of this range before long runs.They require high amounts of carbohydrates to saturate the muscles with glycogen. Therefore she needs a Buugaaa
I agree with you but there are double standards to a certain degree. Women commentators have no problem talking about likes of Rob Kearney and Tommy Bowe in the same way! Good luck to Orna.. And just to contradict myself.. she’s gorgeous!
Tequila you try to blind us with science talking about energy requirements and then prove you were trying to baffle us with bullshit when you equate a burger with carbs!
The very best of luck to Orna, though the article is incorrect concerning what she is competing in. It’s the 50km World Trophy Final, not the 50km World Championships. Federations do not select athletes to take part and represent their country. Rather, they qualify as individuals from other 50km races to compete in a final race. It’s a pity for her they’ve put this final race in a location with 35c temperatures + humidity.
'Basketbrawl' as seven ejected in Pistons-Wolves clash
3 hrs ago
3
FreeHouston Open
Min Woo Lee wins first PGA Tour title in Texas as McIlroy reveals elbow injury niggle
3 hrs ago
6
As it happened
Kerry v Mayo, GAA Division 1 football league final
20 hrs ago
18
Sign in or create a free account
To continue reading create a free account
Or sign into an existing account
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 161 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.Privacy Policy
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 110 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 143 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 113 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 39 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 35 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 134 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 61 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 74 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 37 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 46 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 27 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 92 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 99 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 72 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 53 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 88 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 69 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
These are the articles that we want everyday.
This is awesome and puts the lie to the the saying that to be a goood runner you have to start as an 11 year old.
well done and good luck.
4.28 1st marathon ,2.57 her last one . That’s is unreal . Best of luck to her
Some shape!! Best of luck @dilworthOrna. We’ll be watching out for updates.
Inspiring.
Been some rise and improvement.Good luck to Gary O Hanlon who ran Dublin Marathon Monday and is ranked 4th going in with a shout of a medal.
Great to hear this and I hope she does fantastic (and wins some food), I’d love to be able to run them kinds of distances but my broken body just won’t allow me.
Great achievement in such a short space of time. Took up running 3 yrs ago now and have to say it is addictive
Running is addictive ! Just look @ all those running multiple marathons, now you have the 50km runs. Is it good or bad ? Time will tell !
martin
there are 100 and 200 k runs now
Jayus, this women must be running on rocket fuel,literally
Somebody get this girl a burger! Quick!
Are you joking? I think she looks amazing; the picture of health and fitness.
Hi Tequila Gold,
It would be nice if, for once, an article about a female athlete didn’t descend into people commenting on her appearance and rather focused on her achievements.
Steve
she’s a successful athlete because she stays away from junk you toool.
She needs to carry as little weight as possible to compete at that level in ultra marathon running I’m pretty sure that her calorie in take is more than an av girl
Steven I agree with you! The comment about the burger is pathetic.
But notinng against this young lady(fair play and all the best to her) but other professional female athletes quite shamelessly trade on looks! Many go looks over sporting achievements.The Anna Kournakova effect! Plenty on the WTP tour do it.
Do they want to be viewed as athletes or models?
Runners need between 7 and 10 g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight during training and closer to the upper end of this range before long runs.They require high amounts of carbohydrates to saturate the muscles with glycogen. Therefore she needs a Buugaaa
Most long distance runners are very slim.
I agree with you but there are double standards to a certain degree. Women commentators have no problem talking about likes of Rob Kearney and Tommy Bowe in the same way! Good luck to Orna.. And just to contradict myself.. she’s gorgeous!
Well said steven
Which women commentators??
Well done to the journal for highlighting this event, running for your country is a fantastic achievement , Go orna
Ah cop on Steven FFS! His comment was only in jest.
Well done Orna- we are cheering for you here. Unreal dedication and consistent improvement. Class runner.
Best of luck to Orna and Gary. Well deserved.
She’s awesome
Tequila you try to blind us with science talking about energy requirements and then prove you were trying to baffle us with bullshit when you equate a burger with carbs!
The very best of luck to Orna, though the article is incorrect concerning what she is competing in. It’s the 50km World Trophy Final, not the 50km World Championships. Federations do not select athletes to take part and represent their country. Rather, they qualify as individuals from other 50km races to compete in a final race. It’s a pity for her they’ve put this final race in a location with 35c temperatures + humidity.
Best of luck and have a great time!…
Great article ! Keep us updated !
my comment was deleted fair enough off topic. I couldn’t understand being a solicitor for BOI in the current carnage