skip to main content

Louth woman to run 1,000th marathon this weekend

Collette O'Hagan ran her first race in Dublin in 1990
Collette O'Hagan ran her first race in Dublin in 1990

A 75-year-old Louth woman will aim to become the first woman in Ireland and the UK to run 1,000 marathons when she tackles the Dublin Marathon this weekend.

Collette O'Hagan ran her first race in Dublin in 1990 and has participated in every Dublin Marathon since.

"I love running, I think that's actually how I keep going... I'm not the fastest runner in the world or anything like that, I'm more in the middle back of the pack runner, and I absolutely love it," Ms O'Hagan told RTÉ's News at One.

"There were very few runners and absolutely very few females at the time, and I thought to myself, what the hell am I doing here?

"I felt everybody was really good, really professional, but I actually settled in very well and I really enjoyed it.

"That was it, that was the start of my running journey."

Ms O'Hagan has run everywhere from New Zealand to Tokyo, as well as across Europe and the US.

She said the Dublin Marathon is one of her favourites.

"The crowd on the street... they're absolutely amazing, they're really encouraging," she said.

"There's something about Dublin that just keeps pulling you back and back. It is really a great marathon to run."

Ms O'Hagan said Sunday's race would not be her last, adding that she has around 14 more booked for November.

She said it was "lovely" to see so much positivity from people wishing her well, adding that there would be a large group running with her on Sunday wearing her favourite colour, pink.

"So, watch out for the pink army on Sunday!"

We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences