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It had been six years since his last run when Niall laced up his running shoes again in 2018. At the time, even completing the short circuit around his local golf course seemed out of reach, let alone a marathon. But after a health scare, he knew something had to change.
For the dentist from Wantage in Oxfordshire, the decision to take up running again has led to more than just better physical health. It sparked a new passion that’s taken him around the world, helping him forge new connections and shifting his perspective in ways he never expected.
Now, Niall is taking on his biggest running challenge yet: completing all seven of the World Major Marathons in just nine months to celebrate turning 60 and raise money for Smile Train, a charity funding life-changing cleft surgery and comprehensive care for children with clefts around the world (you can find out more here).
We caught up with Niall halfway through this incredible feat to discuss how he became a marathon runner in later life, what keeps him going, and why others might want to lace up their trainers and hit the pavement.
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“I was looking in the mirror, and I wasn’t proud of the way I looked”
Niall never considered himself a sporty person. “At school, I was always that bloke who everybody went, ‘Oh God, do we really have to have him on our team?’” he laughs. Though he took up Park Runs in his early 40s and eventually ran a half-marathon.
But when he and his wife, Miriam, took over a new dental practice in 2015, his health took a back seat. “It got very stressful, and for about four or five years, I did absolutely nothing. You know, drank far too much red wine, ate far too much food, all that sort of stuff. No exercise,” Niall says.
However, things changed when Niall visited the doctor for a routine checkup in 2018, where he discovered that his blood pressure was worryingly high. His reading was 170/90 mmHg, much higher than the average levels for a man of his age, which are around 124/77 mmHg. “I nearly fell off my chair,” Niall says.
The doctor suggested that he go on tablets, but Niall was adamant about trying to deal with the problem without medication.
“I knew that I was two or three stone overweight. I was looking in the mirror, and I wasn’t proud of the way I looked,” Niall explains. “If I’d gone on tablets, I think I might have used that as an excuse not to get fit. My doctor said, ‘Great idea, but don’t overdo it.’”
“That was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. I cried on the way in because I was so emotional about it.”
Since Niall had completed a half-marathon a few years earlier, he naturally turned to running as a way to get fit, but soon found out that he couldn’t just pick up where he left off.
“I chose a loop near the house and thought, ‘I must be able to do that,’” he says. “But five minutes into running, I wanted to throw up all over the place. It was horrendous. It actually scared me how unfit I was.”
Although this first experience didn’t deter Niall from his goal, it only strengthened his resolve. Each day, whatever the weather, he returned to the loop and ran a little bit further than the day before. And after six weeks or so, he could run the whole thing. “That’s when I took myself back to Park Run and went on from there,” he says.
Despite his commitment to getting fit in 2018, running a marathon was never something Niall aspired to. “My experience doing a half-marathon was: Oh my God, imagine running this twice. I must admit, I still think that when I get to the halfway point in a full marathon,” Niall laughs. But a summer holiday that same year proved a unique source of inspiration and motivation.
Niall and his family ended up in Dingle, on Ireland’s Southwest coast, where his parents used to take him on caravan holidays every year as a child. While there, he saw a banner for the local marathon and decided to enter.
“It was a sort of connection to my parents that actually pushed me to do the marathon. Childhood memories, basically. And I think I’d gotten to the point with running where I wanted a little challenge.”
Fast forward a year, and Niall was crossing the finish line under an Irish summer sun. “That was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life,” he explains. “I cried on the way in because I was so emotional about it. A, for my parents, thinking of them, and B, just the fact that I’d done such a stupendous event.”
“Running the London Marathon is like the closest thing you’ll get to running out for England at Wembley”
Since that day, Niall has run an impressive 15 more marathons, with his sights set on what he calls “the big one”, London, on Sunday, 26th of April 2026. He’s taken part in the race several times before, but this time, it’ll mark the culmination of his goal to run all of the Abbott World Marathon Majors in just nine months.
The challenge began back in August with the Sydney marathon, and he’s since completed Berlin, Chicago, New York, and Tokyo, with just Boston and London to go when we spoke to him.
Niall says he took on the challenge to celebrate turning 60, originally planning to spread the races out over a few years. “I looked at it and saw that lots of people have run them, but actually, very few have run them in sequence. And I thought that would be a great thing to raise money for Smile Train because it’s unusual, particularly for a bloke of my age.”
So far, New York has been his favourite race. “It’s just iconic, and the support was insane,” he says. But previous experience tells him that London will be a day to remember, too.
Niall tells us, “When people ask me, ‘Why run a marathon?’ I say, pick whatever your favourite sport is – say England at football (though for me it would be Ireland at rugby). Running the London Marathon is like the closest thing you’ll get to running out for England at Wembley.
“You’ve got the road closed for the day. You’ve got people shouting your name. People are serving you drinks at the side. You get the tube for free. You’re the special person for that day, even though there are 60,000 of you doing it, you just feel special independently. I absolutely love it.”
“The biggest effect is that my attitude to life has changed. My mental health is much better, and I just feel proud of myself”
Speaking about what running has offered him in later life, Niall says, “My blood pressure is down to normal. My weight has dropped off, as you would expect. But the biggest effect is that my attitude to life has changed. My mental health is much better, and I just feel proud of myself.”
And while running is often thought of as a solitary sport, the sense of community Niall’s experienced along the way offered another unexpected benefit.
“I’ve made so many friends. The same faces keep cropping up time and time again,” he says. “Even the pacers are brilliant, and the people you meet out running, you have a good chat about their lives. They’re very social events, and just meeting people is fantastic.”
For anyone looking to follow in his footsteps and get fit, Niall is keen to recommend running because of how accessible it is.
“It’s the simplest way of getting out. It’s literally right outside your door. Everyone’s got a pair of trainers kicking about. A pair of shorts and a T-shirt to slip on. And even if you don’t have any trainers, you don’t need to buy anything expensive.
“My view is that it’s never too late. Just get out that door. Find your local Park Run. You can walk it. It doesn’t matter. But just get out there. You’ll surprise yourself with what you’re capable of, and you’ll feel so much better for starting.”
As for Niall’s own running, he’s showing no signs of slowing down. Once he completes his World Major Marathon challenge, he’s setting his sights on ‘SuperHalfs’, a series of six prestigious half marathons throughout Europe.
Also on his bucket list is the original marathon in Greece and the Big Sur International Marathon, which takes runners through some of California’s most breathtaking coastal scenery. “It’s been great. I’m not going to give it up,” Niall says.
Are you inspired by Niall’s story? Or do you have one of your own you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
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