A Co Derry man is celebrating his 65th birthday on Sunday by running his 600th marathon in 600 weeks.
Eugene 'Oggie' Winters from Portstewart took on his first 26.2 mile challenge at the Belfast Marathon on May 7, 2012, when he was 55-years-old.
Since then, he has been running a number of marathons each year, and this year's Belfast Marathon will be a double celebration as he will reach his 600th marathon milestone on his 65th birthday.
Read more: Belfast marathon expo and pack collection times
Speaking about why he first started to run at the age of 55, Eugene told Belfast Live : "I was getting a wee bit overweight and decided I needed to stop it in some way or another. In my younger days, I was never good at PE in school and was never into sport.
"I remember saying I would have loved to do the Belfast Marathon years ago, but I never got in to doing it when I was younger. I think that never left my head, then I turned 55 and said I should go for it. From then, I haven't stopped - I really got the bug for it.
"I wanted to go out there and prove to people that you're never too late in life to go out and run a marathon. It's good for the mind, soul, and body, and it's a great challenge."
The remarkable runner has also twice ran 10 marathons in 10 days and has even taken part in the 'Hell of the Hill' endurance event, which involves running five of the toughest marathons in the UK, in five days.
He successfully ran the Victoria Park endurance event in Belfast in 2016, running 100 miles in under 24 hours.
Each year, Eugene runs the marathon for a charity close to his heart to keep him motivated.
This year he's taking on the challenge to raise funds for Action Mental Health and has even donated £1,000 of his own money to the charity.
Eugene said: "I feel it's a good, worthy cause. I did 300 marathons in 300 weeks for Action Mental Health previously, and I did my 500 marathons in 500 weeks for The Rainbow Project.
"I always like running for charities as not only does it do good for them, it does good for me too. When you're running for a charity it gives you that extra buzz and incentive to push you on and do the best you can, when you're doing it for a charity close to your heart."
For anyone running their first marathon this year, or for anybody keen to get started on their running journey in any form, Eugene has offered some advice.
"There's no point in just talking about doing a marathon, a 10K or a 5K - you've got to get into the mindset in your own mind, and saying you are going to do it. You must make yourself do it," he added.
"You need to be very determined to do it. Going into this marathon on Sunday, I'll be determined from the start line until the finish. Don't give up, keep focused on your running, it doesn't matter the length you run - we're all built different, and everyone has to start somewhere."
Read more: Belfast City Marathon weekend is back with pack collection opening today
Read more: Belfast City Marathon still gathering pace as it celebrates 40th year
For the latest breaking news straight to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter here.
