Irish runner Ciara Mageean reveals stage four bowel cancer diagnosis, says she will 'fit as much living into the years I have left'

Diagnosis

While at a training camp in Font-Romeu, France, in 2025, Mageean noticed she needed to stop her spin bike session repeatedly. Her partner Tommy Moran urged her to get checked. She later told RTÉ Radio 1: 'I would get up in the morning and I would need the toilet four times. I thought, "that's not normal".' After seeing the sports doctor at the Sport Ireland Institute, she was referred to St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin, where on 20 May a routine scope turned into a cancer diagnosis.

Because I'm so young and healthy, I thought it'll be at an early stage.

Months later, with Moran and her sister Máire, a colorectal surgeon delivered worse news: the cancer was stage four, with significant spread to her bowel and liver, and a small amount in her lungs.

This isn't good, is it? And he just shook and said 'no, it's not great. This is not a good diagnosis, Ciara.'

Prognosis and response

After 12 rounds of chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy were ruled out. Her oncologist gave a prognosis of 'probably two to three years'.

Mageean's immediate response was to book a trip to Costa Rica for the RTÉ adventure series Uncharted, and to start planning her wedding with Moran.

If I'm going to die, I'm going to fit as much living into the years I have left.

Public message and memoir

Now aged 34, Mageean is releasing her memoir, My Greatest Race, on 18 June, written with Clíona Foley. Speaking to Brendan O'Connor, she stressed the importance of cherishing small moments.

We need to celebrate the joys in life, and we need to verbalise them a lot more.

She admitted that her diagnosis has reshaped her view of a future she once imagined, including the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and starting a family.

I probably won't make my 40th birthday. That's rough.