Collette O’Hagan freely admits that her relationship with running wasn’t love at first step. ‘I absolutely hated it when I started at the age of 40 and thought, “No, no, no, this is not for me!”’ she says. Famous last words from someone who, 34 years later, would become the first woman in Ireland to run 1,000 marathons. But then O’Hagan, 75, from Dundalk, a small town on the north-east coast of the Republic of Ireland, is anything but conventional. Not only is she a mum of five and grandmother of ten, but she’s fostered more than 80 children and helped fund a care home for Romanian orphans, all the while running an average of 30 to 50 marathons a year. Oh, and did we mention her hair?
‘I don’t go to the hairdresser as I don’t have the time,’ she says, smiling, ‘so, as my favourite colour is pink, I decided to dye, trim and touch up my roots myself – it saves a lot of time and money. I’m known on the running circuit as The Pink Lady, which makes me sound like some kind of apple!’
What The Pink Lady achieved on 27 October 2024, the day she ran her 1,000th marathon, is a feat of endurance so mind boggling it’s hard to imagine, but let’s try. By running 26.2 miles or more – some of her ‘marathons’ were in fact ultramarathons – O’Hagan covered a distance that’s the equivalent of running around the Equator plus a cheeky ‘bonus run’ from Dublin to Casablanca, as the crow flies. What’s more, she makes it sound almost as if it were an accident: ‘It was never my plan to run 1,000 marathons – it was more of a progression,’ she says. ‘When I reached 900 marathons in 2023 the idea came to me that perhaps running 1,000 was possible and, as Dublin was where I started my marathon journey in 1990, and I’ve run every Dublin Marathon since, I decided it would be nice to do my 1,000th there.’
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The school run
You’d expect a history-making runner to have been sporty from a young age, but you’d be wrong. ‘I was one of 18 kids and my parents ran a small farm and a little grocery shop,’ O’Hagan recalls. ‘Ours was a small country school, so we never had the opportunity to participate in sports. I was also kept very busy looking after my 10 younger siblings, who were a bit of a handful, but which I loved doing as it got me out of doing farm jobs! They were my dolls as we didn’t have many toys, and I loved minding them.’ However, like the great Haile Gebrselassie who ran 10K to school and back with his schoolbooks tucked under his arm, O’Hagan built solid running foundations due to the fact that the nearest school, across the border in Northern Ireland, was three miles away.
‘I often ran to school, so perhaps my love of running was instilled way back then,’ she says, ‘though at the time I just thought it was a pain having such a long commute. We had one bicycle in the family, so you had no way of getting to Dundalk, our nearest town nine miles away, unless you walked or ran there.’
Aged 19, O’Hagan met and married her husband, Larry. ‘I joke that I wore my First Communion dress to my wedding,’ she says. After a brief waitressing stint, O’Hagan had her first child at the age of 21, with four more to follow. ‘You could say I grew up with my kids,’ she says. ‘I adored being with them and couldn’t wait for the school holidays so that I could do stuff with them.’
O’Hagan’s adult running journey started in 1989, at the age of 40, after a short illness. ‘I was very weak so Larry, who was very fit at the time, suggested I go for a run,’ she says. ‘Quite frankly, the idea appalled me, but I gave it a try. My first attempt was horrible, perhaps because I was so unfit and still recuperating. However, Larry kept nudging me to keep going, and after that kept taking me out for short runs. My wee dog, a Jack Russell called Scrappy, would follow along, too, and after several weeks – and a lot of moaning – I started to get the hang of it. Eventually I had to leave Scrappy at home as she was always stopping to sniff everything.’
O’Hagan began to enjoy running so much, in fact, that she joined a group of women who were training for the 1989 Women’s Mini Marathon, an annual 10K event held in Dublin. Fortunately, her first race wasn’t as horrendous as her first run and, blown away by the competitive atmosphere, she completed it in under 50 minutes. ‘After that, I felt I could actually do more and longer distances,’ she says, ‘so I set my sights on running my first marathon.’
Back then, there weren’t many women running marathons, so O’Hagan trained on her own, using a plan she’d found in a running magazine. ‘I loved the long training runs and generally ran them on a Sunday. I’d make the Sunday dinner for Larry and the children and then leave mine aside until I got the long run done. I didn’t want to run for hours with a stomach full of gravy and roasties!’
O’Hagan admits to feeling very nervous when she stood on the start line of the 1990 Dublin Marathon as she didn’t have a clue what to expect. ‘After a couple of miles, I settled into it and to my amazement, started to enjoy it, finishing in just under four hours,’ she says.
Bitten by the marathon bug, O’Hagan eased into distance running by competing in the Dublin and Belfast Marathons for several years, before plucking up the courage to go abroad. ‘My husband suggested I do the Boston Marathon,’ she says. ‘It was my first foreign marathon and I managed to get a place through a sports travel company. I felt so privileged to be running Boston and was overwhelmed by the way the entire city had embraced the race. After that I ran Boston a total of 12 times (it’s still my favourite marathon!), followed by 12 London Marathons as they usually fell a week apart.’
Picking up the pace
Due to the scarcity of marathons in Ireland, O’Hagan found herself running an increasing number of 26.2s on the British mainland, and it was at her 50th marathon in 1999 that she met the group of runners that would change her life. ‘I was totally in awe of them and the number of marathons they were running every year,’ says O’Hagan. ‘One of them was Roger Biggs, and he invited me to join a club he’d founded called the 100 Marathon Club, so I became an associate member as you couldn’t become a full member until you’d done 100 marathons. Until then I’d only been doing about five marathons a year, but I started doing more and more and over time the numbers racked up until I celebrated my 100th in Dublin in 2003. It was an amazing experience and a journey I truly enjoyed. Along with a fantastic haul of medals, I collected friends from all over the world whom I call my “running family”.’
After her 100th, O’Hagan continued running marathons with no real goal in mind. ‘I did many marathons in the UK and Europe and also completed all six Abbott World Marathon Majors,’ she says. ‘Then, in 2010, Ray O’Connor founded the 100 Marathon Club Ireland. It’s based on the same rules as the UK club but it also staged small monthly marathons so I didn’t have to travel so far, which made a big difference to how many I could do.’
Not content with running multiple marathons a year, after 12 years of running O’Hagan started doing back-to-back marathons and then went on to run seven 10 in 10s (ten marathons in ten days) between 2018 and 2024, and two 12 in 12s (a dozen marathons in 12 days), the first in 2018 and the second in 2024. ‘I didn’t undertake ultras until I’d gradually built up my mileage and the time on my feet,’ she says of her progression to completing a 100-mile event between Dublin and Belfast in 2015, and notching up 118 miles during a 48-hour track event in Omagh in 2018. In 2017 she entered her first 24-hour event, not realising that it was the World Championships. ‘I just kept moving,’ she says, ‘and to my astonishment, won gold in the over-60 category!’
Surprisingly, achieving all this in her running hasn’t involved giving up her entire life to training. ‘I’ve never done high weekly mileage,’ says O’Hagan. ‘All I do is up to 10K, three times a week, plus a daily mile as part of my run streak, which is now almost six years long.’ As for her fuelling regime, O’Hagan keeps it simple: ‘I have toast and jam before a race, and a glass of red wine (for the vitamins) and salty chips (for the salt and carbs) afterwards,’ she says. ‘I eat very little during races, and never bother with gels. If there’s a bit of chocolate, a banana or some watermelon at the feed stations, I tend to eat that. During 24-hour races, I eat plain, honest food: cheese sarnies, soup, boiled baby potatoes.’
Technique is another area where O’Hagan doesn’t overcomplicate things. ‘I have the worst technique in the world!’ she says. ‘I’m in no way elegant. I’d love to be able to run like a gazelle but I’m a proper plodder!’
Fostering and fundraising
Running wasn’t the only new thing O’Hagan started doing in her 40s: she and her husband became foster parents, eventually fostering over 80 children. ‘Running helped me through the ups and downs of dealing with traumatised children and gave me the strength and tenacity to keep going and not give up, no matter what obstacles came our way,’ she says. ‘The biggest sacrifice I had to make on the road to 1,000 marathons was spending time away from my family and foster kids. I felt a little guilty leaving them while I went off running but I always came back a better person afterwards and was then able to give them 110% of my love and attention. Thankfully our biological kids were amazingly helpful, which couldn’t have been easy as they had to share their parents with lots of other kids.’
During this time Collette also became involved with a Romanian orphanage, having travelled to the country shortly after the fall of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989. ‘I will never forget the sight of those abandoned children – it haunts me to this day,’ she says. ‘They were so malnourished and mistreated, and were tied to their cots. Some of them were so traumatised that they were unable to speak. Our team of volunteers worked tirelessly to close the orphanage and build group homes where they could be properly cared for. I still go out each year to visit, bring the children clothes and gifts, and give them a wee holiday on the beach. I used my marathon running to fundraise for them and gave most of my running T-shirts to them.’
O’Hagan credits her husband Larry in helping her juggle parenting, fostering and her running career. ‘Larry’s my rock and always supported me by looking after the children when I was off running abroad and in Romania,’ she says. Larry doesn’t always get left at home, however: ‘If it’s an interesting place with nice sunshine and swimming facilities, such as Lanzarote, he comes along. Larry no longer runs, but he likes swimming.’ The couple’s love of running has been passed down to their children and ten grandchildren: ‘Four of my five children have run marathons,’ says O’Hagan. ‘Even my son, who hasn’t yet run a marathon, does the occasional 5K and 10K.’
Good times, bad times
Asked about her times, O’Hagan says she’s slowed down over the years and instead of chasing PBs as she did in her earlier running days, she’s now happy to relax and savour what’s around her. ‘I find running allows me to live in the moment as sometimes we are so busy, we just forget to do that,’ she says. ‘I love chatting while I’m running and sometimes I do a bit of singing, although I make sure no one can hear me as I’m not very good at it! I also enjoy writing poetry – many a poem was composed while out running. And I love dressing up: I’ve run as Alice in Wonderland, Santa, a Smurf and an Oompa Loompa (with orange make-up running down my face), among others. These days I just aim to let the marathon flow and to finish happy – if a race doesn’t go to plan, I just let it go and move on to the next adventure.’
One race that almost didn’t go to plan, and which Collette describes as her most challenging, was the Transylvania 50K in Romania in 2018. ‘It was an Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc qualifier and I was completely out of my depth,’ she says. ‘The snow-covered route was incredibly steep and we were so high up I thought “I need skis to come down”. I was also terrified I’d see a brown bear – all I had to defend myself was a whistle! I couldn’t get off that mountain fast enough.’
As for injuries, O’Hagan says she’s been really lucky: ‘I haven’t had many,’ she says. ‘In 2015, I broke a bone in my foot during the Donegal Quadrathon Challenge. However, that didn’t stop me doing four half marathons on four consecutive days on crutches wearing a boot. Funnily enough, the only thing that hurt afterwards was my arms from using the crutches. The only time I’ve pulled out of a race was during the East of Ireland Marathon in 2021, when I tripped over and sustained a head injury. My face was black from my eyes to my chin. When I went to A&E they initially thought I’d fractured my eye socket, but I was later diagnosed with mild concussion. The event took place during the pandemic, so we were still wearing face masks. I was glad I could, as it stopped people seeing how bad my injury was.’
Worryingly, in the build-up to her 1,000th marathon, Collette sustained a serious ankle injury. ‘I was convinced I’d broken a bone as I was dragging my foot behind me,’ she says. ‘I’d entered 52 marathons in 2024 and if I’d failed to complete even one it would have messed up the maths and meant not doing my 1,000th in Dublin. Fortunately, after an X-ray revealed I hadn’t fractured my ankle, I found an amazing podiatrist, and after he worked on it I was able to do 19 marathons in 21 days with no bother at all. That injury did teach me that I’m not invincible, however.’
Millennial celebration
Fast forward to 27 October 2024, the day Collette ran her 1,000th marathon. ‘I chose Dublin for this super-special event as I’d done it 33 times – even during Covid,’ she says. ‘It really does hold a very special place in my heart. It’s also known as The Friendly Marathon, so I knew the crowd support would be incredible.’
And O’Hagan wasn’t wrong: ‘The cheering was unbelievable – it was so emotional that it was actually overwhelming,’ she says. ‘I was intending to run it in 5:30 but so many people, both in the crowd and on the course, stopped me to ask whether they could take a selfie – or give me a hug – that it took me 6:25 to get round. I spoke to so many people that I could barely talk by the end. I found that I couldn’t get into a proper running rhythm with all the stop/starting, but I didn’t mind one bit as I knew I’d never run another marathon like it again. Oh, and I didn’t dare look at my phone as it was pinging away with messages from friends and well-wishers the entire time.’
In honour of O’Hagan’s 1,000th marathon, the Dublin Marathon organisers encouraged everyone to paint the city pink by wearing pink clothing and wigs. ‘I find pink a calming colour – when I run in pink I feel very relaxed,’ she says. ‘We also had special pink T-shirts with “Collette O’Hagan’s 1,000th Marathon” printed on them. What I didn’t realise, however, was that the runners wearing them would be mistaken for me. Many friends reported being asked “Are you Collette?” or receiving cheers of “Go Collette!” It made me chuckle to think there were “Collette impersonators” on the course.’
Naturally, there was plenty of press attention. ‘I was interviewed by every major radio station in Ireland,’ says O’Hagan, ‘along with two major TV stations. One interviewer, Martin King, isn’t a runner, so he panted “Are we nearly finished – I’m bolloxed!” after he’d only run a few yards. That was really funny.’
O’Hagan’s favourite memories of that day in Dublin include being given an enormous bouquet of pink flowers by her North East Runners Dundalk running club beforehand, running the entire race with her daughter Jacqueline (sporting a ‘My Mam’s 1,000th Marathon’ running vest) and having her daughter, Sarah, and 13-year-old grandchild, Emily, squeeze under the barriers to cross the finish line with her.
After the race, O’Hagan retired to a pub in Dublin to celebrate. ‘Jacqueline was too emotional to make a speech but instead played me the Whitney Houston song One Moment in Time. That perfectly summed up our marathon experience: I loved every moment and didn’t want it to end.’ From there the party set off for Dundalk, for a second celebration in a local pub. ‘The owner had put up an enormous banner for me, so that was incredibly special. We arrived at 7.30pm and didn’t leave until 2.30am the next day,’ grins O’Hagan. ‘It was a good old Irish lock-in! My family all clubbed together and presented me with a brand-new Garmin – in pink, of course – as my old one is now a bit dodgy, probably from over-use!’
As you’d expect from this big-hearted runner, O’Hagan used the event to fundraise – this time for a local hospice and the charity Féileacáin that supports anyone affected by the death of a baby. ‘I held a wee fundraiser for my charities before doing my 1,000th,’ she says. ‘With the help of my amazing sponsor Dundalk Credit Union – who’ve sponsored my running kit and expenses over many years as I’m their Brand Ambassador – we displayed my medals at a coffee morning and raised over £1,000. I’ve also raised nearly £4,000 on my fundraising page.
When asked how she feels now that her incredible goal has been achieved, O’Hagan responds with characteristic modesty: ‘I’m still on a high, but actually, I’m also very relieved, as marathons are unpredictable and many things could have gone wrong,’ she says. ‘I could have been too injured to run, or fallen over during the event itself.’ But surely there must be some sort of comedown now that it’s all over? ‘Not at all!’ she says. ‘I most definitely would be very sad if I was stopping running marathons, but I’m not. I had a further 20 marathons booked until the end of 2024, and then 23 so far in 2025, so I don’t get lazy. I also intend on doing more half marathons and other distances. Running is an art, and my canvas is not yet complete. I find great solace in running; it’s the glue that keeps me together. I’m by no means a fast runner or anywhere near top of the class, but to me that’s not important. The most significant aspect for me is the sheer joy I get from doing it.’
