Eugene (Oggie) Winters from Portstewart, County Derry/Londonderry, now at the age of 67, is no stranger to an endurance challenge. Once again, he’s stepping up to the mark, pledging to donate £500 to Action Mental Health if he completes his next challenge of finishing his 250th official sub-four-hour marathon at the Moy Park Belfast City Marathon on Sunday 5 May 2024. On completion of this marathon it will mark his official 740th marathon overall.
Oggie has been a longstanding supporter on Action Mental Health. In the past, he has run 300 official marathons in 300 weeks for Action Mental Health. Three years later, he completed 600 official marathons in 600 weeks for Action Mental Health and has also run marathons for many other charities.
The remarkable runner who first took up the sport at the age of 55, with his first marathon being Belfast in 2012, has also completed all the World Majors – London, Boston, New York, Chicago, Berlin and Tokyo marathons. Some of Oggie’s running highlights include running 100 official marathons in 2017 and 100 official marathons in 2018. He’s also previously taken on 10 marathons in 10 days, and has completed many back-to-back marathons, treble and quads, running two, three and four days in a row. On three occasions, Oggie has completed 100-miler endurance races within 24 hours; one of these he finished in a time of 21:40:40 at the age of 60 at Victoria Park, Belfast. He has also completed many other smaller ultras.
Oggie told us, “I always find running is good for the mind, soul and body and you always meet so many people out there doing what they love best, be it parkruns, 5k’s, half marathons, marathons or Ultras. We are all different in what we do in the running game, in what distance we do, or pace we run at. But the most important thing is getting out and doing it.”
“Marathons are always very tough going at times and pushing for this 250th sub-four-hour challenge adds to the difficulty level. I find I have to rely on my own mental strength and toughness to get me through and I find that while I do it for charity that this also helps me. I hope that my efforts will maybe inspire other people to go out and do something active, as I firmly believe exercising and keeping active can help not just our physical health but our mental health too. I thought what better way to celebrate than to donate some money to Action Mental Health, to help support the vital work they do across Northern Ireland.”
Jonathan Smyth, our Head of Communications & Fundraising, said:
“Oggie has supported Action Mental Health over the years with various challenges. So when he reached out once again to let us know about his new personal challenge and we were absolutely thrilled to have his support and generosity once again. Oggie has pledged to donate £500 to support our vital mental health services, when he completes his 250thsub-4-hour marathon challenge. We know that running and all physical activity is a great way of supporting your mental health, so we are particularly delighted to be the beneficiary of this amazing challenge and wish Oggie well.”
Inspired to take on your own running challenge? Email [email protected] for information.
