UK Man Travels The World By Entering Marathons

Many of us dream of traveling the world, but Neil Cosgrove, 40, from Liverpool, England, is already doing so. Despite never running or exercising before, an audacious bet saw him completing 15 marathons around the globe and he has no plans to stop.

UK man is completing marathons around the world

After a bet, Neil Cosgrove, 40, did something he had never done before. Despite never running or exercising, he went on to complete 15 marathons around the world, with no plans to stop anytime soon. This new hobby has taken him to some of the most beautiful destinations in the world, while he keeps on running.

Speaking exclusively to the global travel booking platform, Omio, Cosgrove, the managing director at OriGym, has shared his new drive to continue running marathons. Moreover, he opened up about the places he has traveled to, and how the experience makes him feel, saying:

An audacious bet sparked a complete lifestyle change!

I never ran or did any exercise prior to 2004 and lived a pretty unhealthy student lifestyle. I was working in a pub and spending most of my social time there. If I wasn’t behind the bar, I was on the other side of it spending my wages, which was the main reason I failed my first year of university. Then came the bet.

Neil explained that one night, at the end of his shift, his colleague said to him:

‘I bet I could run a half marathon before you,’ which seemed all I needed to wake up my competitiveness. Who knew such an audacious bet would have led me to run my first marathon in 2007 – and now I have completed 15! If you had asked me then, this is something I never thought I would have done or achieved.

The Livapudlian man explained that he is currently focused on running all the World Major Marathons, having so far completed five – London, Berlin, Chicago, New York and Tokyo.

Cosgrove said that later this year, he will be participating in the Switzerland Verbier Trail Marathon, held in July, and the Valencia Marathon in Spain this coming December, adding:

I’m hoping my time of 2 hours 56 minutes at Tokyo last month will get me entry into the Boston Marathon in 2026!

Running makes him feel alive

Neil admitted that he started running purely for fitness, but now it makes him feel alive. He did admit that while he started running to improve his fitness, he didn’t really enjoy it at first. However, once he started to reach new milestones and collect medals, he developed a need to push himself more, so his purpose as to why he ran definitely changed.

My purpose is to see how far I can push my mind and body, so I think you have to enjoy the process of training and love the grind. It’s the body’s natural tendency to conserve energy so it feels rewarding to overcome that.

Cosgrove said that running has given him the “grit and determination” he now uses in all aspects of life. While not realizing it over the years, running has enabled him to regularly decompress and address the challenges daily life throws at him, adding that setting and achieving goals, such as a new personal best, feels very rewarding and drives him to push harder.

Without realizing it over the years, it’s enabled me to regularly decompress and address the challenges daily life throws at you. Setting and achieving goals such as a new personal best feels very rewarding and drives me to push harder.

Which of the marathons has been his favorite so far?

When Omio asked what his favorite marathon run has been so far, as well as the most scenic, he explained:

My favorite marathon run that I’ve had so far has to be the New York City Run I did in 2024. Not only is it the largest marathon in the world, with 58,000 runners, but the atmosphere of the crowds is incredible, combined with having my family there to watch. Americans know how to put on big events!

However, if he were to pick a marathon purely for its scenery, it would be the Disney World Dopey Challenge in 2024. Over four days, he ran a 5k, 10k, half marathon, and full marathon – with a total of 48.6 miles – which started at 5 am. It was clearly fun, as Neil added:

Running through every park and being greeted by many characters in costumes every few miles made it a very surreal experience.

Meeting people while running

Another aspect of running marathons around the world is the “many amazing people” he has met along the way, saying:

What you’ll find with marathons, or with runners in general, is that everybody has the same goal: to finish the event or achieve their running goal, so it’s very easy to strike up conversations and make friends. I have met many interesting people from different walks of life, some of whom I now consider close friends.

Meanwhile, the sense of community is one of the reasons why marathon tourism (also known as race-cations) is becoming more popular than ever. Neil said that with more marathons being held around the world, it’s “more than just a trend,” it’s a global movement, while 2025 marks only the start of the boom. Cosgrove shared his thoughts on the trend and why it has become so popular:

There is a huge market for race-cations. Exploring new towns, cities, countries, and meeting like-minded runners is very motivational. Making races easily accessible for the masses, especially by removing all the complexities that can come with marathon events, is key to growing demand further, for instance, travel, accommodation, and event entry.

As races tend to be on Sundays, they are ideal to turn into long weekends away. I’ve been very fortunate to explore many new places over the years and quite often at large events, there are other smaller events wrapped into the weekend, such as running tours and shake out runs.

You have to be careful though; doing 30,000+ steps in the days prior to a marathon being a tourist isn’t always the best preparation, and the day after the marathon you may not be able to walk!

Neil offers advice to those planning their first marathon

Cosgrove recommended just signing up for a marathon and committing to it, otherwise, you are likely to procrastinate.

He added that once committed, runners can take care of the rest in terms of getting to the event, and where to stay. Next, they can put together a training plan, that a coach can help runners put together.

For those running their first marathon, Neil recommends signing up for a larger event, which offers more support to runners. Meanwhile, for the more difficult events with which to get entry, like New York, running tour companies can organize packages, while taking care of the finer details, which he said can be incredibly helpful for a first-timer.

According to Marathon Handbook, some 1.3 million people run a marathon in the world every year, and this figure is only expected to grow with marathon tourism on the rise.

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