County Derry pensioner hits milestone by completing 740th Marathon

Eugene ‘Oggie’ Winters ran his 740th marathon at the weekend at age of 67.

The Portstewart man completed the Moy Park Belfast City Marathon in less than four hours. 

Eugene is no stranger to marathons however he only began running 12 years ago.

At the age of 55 he challenged himself to start running with the aim to run his first marathon in Belfast in 2012. 

Since then, he hasn’t stopped and the weekend past saw him run his 740th marathon.

“Sometimes I wonder how I do these things. Of course you need it in the body and you need it in the legs but you also need it in the head,” said Eugene.

He never lacks inspiration for running challenges and is always happy to go out for a run. Since his first marathon, Eugene has achieved multiple feats such as running  300 marathons in 300 weeks and 600 marathons in 600 weeks. 

“I'm just an ordinary person. Just an ordinary person that does a bit of running. I love my marathons,” he laughed.

Eugene also ran 10 marathons in 10 days which is an impressive achievement in itself and 100 miles in 24 hours multiple times.

Eugene also completed the World Majors Marathon, which includes marathons in London, Boston, New York, Chicago, Berlin and Tokyo.

All of the marathons he has completed are officially recognised by running organisations.

Sunday's marathon was actually his 250th in a sub-four hour time under four hours. 

“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,” he admitted. 

Speaking after Sunday’s marathon, Eugene was clearly delighted to have ‘smashed it’, just four days after his birthday which was on May 1.

“I never think ‘I didn’t finish a marathon’. I never think of that because my mental mind wouldn't allow me to. I am always up for a finish line, no matter what time I’m doing,” he said.

He ran the Belfast Marathon in a time of three hours, 49 minutes and 17 seconds. This time now qualifies him to participate in the London Marathon. 

“I must be honest, I am completely buzzing right now,” said Eugene on Sunday after the race. 

Eugene, who runs two to three half marathons per week as part of his training regime, says that a challenge for new runners is to find the courage to run in public.

“I remember when I did my first 10 kilometres run. I was at the start line and I sort of felt a bit of an underdog,” he said.

“But I was there with a purpose, to complete the 10 kilometres official run.

“I was there for myself, that's all I need to remember. I was there to prove what I could do. Not to anybody else out there. 

“I did it and I felt like a king.”

Eugene explained that ‘running is good for the mind, soul and body’.

“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.

“Whatever shape and size anybody who's out there, I love to see them running. Doesn't matter to me. It doesn't matter to me what pace they do, they're all part of my team.”

Eugene has pledged to make a £500 donation to Action Mental Health after the race to support the charity and their work.

Eugene hopes that his effort will inspire 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’.

Eugene has run a total of 31,080 km to date. To  put that into perspective, it is equivalent to three quarters of the planet's circumference, which is an extraordinary feat in such a short time frame. This number is only counting for logged marathons and not his training.