My Greatest Race

Few Irish track athletes are as universally loved as Ciara Mageean, who has remained endearingly down-to-earth, candid and optimistic despite the dramatic twists and turns of her world-class career.

In 2024 she finally won a European title, crossing the line to secure that gold medal in a moment of pure euphoria. Two months later, at the peak of her power, an excruciating injury derailed her once again, forcing an eleventh-hour withdrawal from the Paris Olympics. In the City of Love she went, overnight, from competitor to heartbroken tourist. Nothing, she thought, will ever be as bad as this … and then she got the worst news of her life.

My Greatest Race is a sports memoir like no other, a devastating contrast between the elite athlete road that so few get to travel and the all-too-familiar cancer journey that so many do.

Ideal for readers who…

• follow Irish athletics and want an intimate, behind-the-scenes account of life at the top level
• love sports memoirs that go beyond medals to reveal the emotional reality of setbacks and survival
• have faced cancer personally, through family, or as a caregiver—and want an honest, humane story
• are drawn to resilience narratives rooted in candour, optimism, and hard-earned perspective
• want an unforgettable true story where ambition, identity, and health collide