The 42

IRISH ATHLETICS STAR Ciara Mageean is writing an autobiography, My Greatest Race, which will be published by Gill Books later this year.

The book, which will be in shops on 18 June, will cover Mageean’s colourful athletics career – from European glory to Olympic heartbreak — and her recent cancer journey.

Mageean announced last July that she had been diagnosed with cancer and was beginning treatment. She provided an update last week, having undergone her 12th round of chemotherapy before Christmas.

“I still have a long road ahead but for now I’m continuing to find the joy in every day,” she wrote on social media.

The synopsis of Mageean’s upcoming book reads: “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.”

Written by Emma Duffy and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.