Ryan McLeod was a leading road runner in Britain at one time, winning the British Half Marathon Championship in 2014 and 2015. But in 2016, a collapse in a car park during training in Newcastle changed everything. Doctors diagnosed McLeod with a severe heart rhythm disorder that required heart surgery. The surgery kept him away from the spotlight for a decade, but he has now returned stronger.

In April 2026, McLeod ran the London Marathon after a long break from top-level competition. He clocked 2:19:41, finished 13th in the mass race, and placed 1st in the M40 category.

Under coach Mike McLeod’s 10-week program, McLeod ran 72 miles weekly—but the real shift was in mindset. Recovery mattered more; he tracked body signals closely.

“Before the race I thought I’d be disappointed with that time but I couldn’t have been further from it,” he said after the marathon. “I’m absolutely buzzing and I’m so proud of myself. It might not have been the time I wanted but, given the circumstances of the race, I feel like I ran to the best of my ability on the day.”

When McLeod was diagnosed with a serious heart rhythm disorder, he felt his career was over, but an invitation by Drew Graham, a friend, to take part in a Special Charity run at the Great North Run in 2023 changed that feeling. He pushed a wheelchair with five others, a team called Team Run With Drew, which became a life-changing experience for him.

Over three years, the team’s times dropped: from 2:01:42 in 2023 to 1:26:09 in 2024 to 1:18:02, a Guinness World Record, in 2025. It made approximately £30,000 for Graham’s Gym Possible, the first-ever gym in North East England dedicated to wheelchair users. McLeod’s recovery was slow, but it got him back here, where he’ll now face the real test.

McLeod’s earlier career—9:04 for 10km (2011), 48:20 for 10 miles (2015), and 64:18 for the half-marathon (2015)—showed his level. Now the focus moves forward. The Chicago Marathon in October was always the original goal race. After London, he has already gone beyond expectations, beating his 2:24 target with a 2:19 finish, and showing there is still more left in him. But there is one more athlete who had a similar kind of journey later in life.

Joe Church’s marathon comeback at 60

At 60, the veteran marathon runner had raced in all 50 American states and numerous long-distance competitions. In 2017, however, a major heart emergency in the middle of a simple errand changed Church’s life. He fell several times and was taken to the hospital. Church’s coronary arteries were blocked, and he was not getting enough blood to his heart. After multiple heart attacks, he required emergency open-heart triple bypass surgery.

The surgery created new routes for blood flow around the blocked arteries and saved his life. Even during this crisis, his biggest worry was whether he would ever be able to run again. It took Church a few months to recover. He began walking, exercising lightly, and gradually built back up with the support of medical people. Then, against all odds, he got the clearance to train and began running again.

What’s incredible is that he ran the 2023 Tokyo marathon in more than six hours, only 66 days after the operation. After that, he began running around the world, including some hard-fought races like the Himalayas.