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Highlights
- At fifty, Giles Ashton-Roberts is running seven marathons across four continents, raising funds for the Motor Neurone Disease Association in honour of his mother, who lives with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
- MND has no cure and progressively removes movement, strength, and independence. Giles runs in sustained recognition of what the disease takes, and what those living with it endure.
- Anyone can take part: during any marathon week, moving for 42 minutes and sharing it with #FollowGiles turns a global challenge into a collective act of solidarity.
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The challenge
There are moments when life shifts, not loudly, but through the kind of recognition that settles in slowly and doesn’t leave. For Giles Ashton-Roberts, that moment came with his mother’s diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
After that, the early mornings, the miles, the training through difficult weeks none of it was really about him anymore.
This year, at fifty, Giles is running seven marathons across four continents. Not for a personal best. To honour a woman whose world has been contracting while his legs can still carry him forward.
As a partner to the world’s leading marathons, TCS is with Giles for the long run. Support the challenge and donate here.
The man behind the miles
Giles doesn’t consider himself an athlete. By profession, he’s a technology leader at an international aviation services company. His work involves protecting aviation operations across hundreds of airports, a role that rewards precision, calm under pressure, and the ability to think in years rather than moments.
Running, though, has become something else. A ritual he returns to. A way of processing something that resists easy understanding.
Watching his mother live with MND has taught him a particular kind of patience and a belief in forward movement, even when the road ahead is unclear.
Giles - The man behind the miles
Why he runs
MND takes its time. It removes movement first. Then strength. Then the ordinary independence most of us never think about. There is no cure and no treatment that turns the tide.
According to the MND Association, the average life expectancy following diagnosis is just two to five years.
Giles found his way to respond. Seven marathons, one for each layer of endurance the disease asks of those living with it, and the families who stay beside them.
He runs because his mother can’t.
Follow the journey – The live blog
Welcome to the running log of a year that didn’t begin the way any of us expected and maybe that’s what makes it worth following. This is where we’ll share honest updates, small moments, setbacks, wins, and whatever each city brings.
No polish. No scripts. Just the journey.
Mumbai was meant to be the first. Months of training behind him. Bag packed. Bib collected. Then, on the morning of the race, Giles was told he couldn’t run, a medical decision he hadn’t anticipated but, in the end, needed to hear.
This was never going to be a neat checklist of seven finish lines. Sometimes showing up means knowing when not to run.
In the meantime, Giles has made a full recovery and is fully focused on preparing for the next challenge: Paris, Boston, and London, all within a few weeks of each other!
Follow Giles Ashton-Roberts as he takes on the 49th edition of the Schneider Electric Paris Marathon, part of his personal challenge: seven marathons in pursuit of one mission: raising money for MND.
Support the cause: Giles Ashton-Roberts is fundraising for Motor Neurone Disease Association
Today at a glance:
Event: Schneider Electric Paris Marathon
Start time: 8:00 a.m. CET
Distance: 42.2km
Over 50,000 runners
Why it matters: Every marathon is another act of endurance in recognition of what MND takes and what those living with it
How to follow: Refresh this page for updates and watch the short clips under the headline
Post 1: Pre‑start
Paris Marathon | Morning
Paris is waking up quietly. Roads are closed, the air is still, and runners are preparing for what lies ahead.
Giles Ashton‑Roberts is focused on the basics: hydration, fuel, and calm. Today marks another stage in his Seven Marathons journey, running to raise awareness and support for people living with Motor Neurone Disease.
“As always,” Giles says, “Today isn’t really about the race or the distance. It’s about showing up, staying present, and carrying the reason I’m here with me from the first step to the last. When things get hard later on, that reason is what keeps me moving.”
Post 2: Start & early race
Paris Marathon | Under way
The race is moving. Thousands of runners have set off through Paris, settling into the early kilometres.
For Giles, the priority is restraint. The plan is simple: control the pace, stick to the process, conserve energy.
Post 3: Mid‑race (the pivot point)
Paris Marathon | Into the second half
By the halfway mark, Paris is fully alive. Crowds line the route, and the race begins to ask harder questions.
Fuel is steady. Rhythm is controlled. Experience takes over.
The hardest work is still to come.
Post 4: The turning point (30–35K)
Paris Marathon | Where it changes
Every marathon has a moment where it stops being about running and becomes about resolve. For many, that moment comes at 30 kilometres.
This is where Giles’ mission is most visible, not in pace, but persistence.
One kilometre at a time, he keeps moving forward.
Post 5: Finish & reflection (measured, meaningful)
Paris Marathon | Finished
Giles Ashton‑Roberts has crossed the line in Paris, completing another marathon in the Seven Marathons journey.
Exhaustion, relief, and quiet pride follow the finish. One race completed. One milestone reached. His words at the line say it all: “Crossing the line hurts physically and emotionally but that pain puts everything into perspective. I ran today for my mother, and of the families living with MND every single day. If this helps raise awareness or support even one person, then every one of those kilometres was worth it.”
Paris is done. Next up: Boston, then London. The mission continues.
As a partner to the world’s leading marathons, TCS is with Giles for the long run. Support the challenge and donate here.
More on the Prais Marathon here: TCS at the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris
Follow Giles Ashton‑Roberts as he takes on the 130th Boston Marathon, one of the most historic and demanding marathons in the world for the next chapter in his personal challenge: seven marathons, one mission, raising funds, and awareness for Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
Support the cause: Giles Ashton‑Roberts fundraising for the Motor Neurone Disease Association
Today at a glance:
- Event: 130th Boston Marathon (running with Team TCS)
- Distance: 42.2 km (26.2 miles)
- Over 30,000 runners from 130 countries
- Start: Hopkinton, MA
- Finish: Boylston Street, Boston
- Start time: 11:21 a.m. (Wave 6)
- Why it matters: Each race is an act of endurance and a reminder of what MND takes, and what running can still give.
Post 1: Pre-start
Hopkinton is calm but charged. It’s Patriots’ Day in New England. Thousands of runners gather in quiet clusters, minds already miles ahead.
The Boston Marathon is different.
There are no flat introductions here. The course begins downhill, asking patience immediately, before saving its hardest questions for later.
For Giles, today is not about time or position. Just a week after completing the Paris Marathon, he’s carrying a leg injury into Boston. Aware that his body may protest long before the finish line comes into view.
“Just a week after Paris, Boston feels different straight away,” he says. “This course demands patience, restraint, and a reason to keep moving when the legs start to object. I’m running with that in mind today.”
Seven marathons. One mission. Another line waiting to be crossed.
Post 2: Start & early miles
They are underway.
The field moves through the first of eight Massachusetts cities.
From Hopkinton, the runners flow downhill through Ashland and Framingham. The energy is high and the crowds – even 20 miles outside the city limits – are loud.
This is the most dangerous part of Boston. Not because it hurts, but because it feels easy. Run too fast downhill at the beginning and risk having nothing left for the climbs that await.
For Giles, that risk is amplified. Just a week removed from Paris and carrying a leg injury, discipline matters from the very first mile.
The mission is clear: save energy for what Boston is famous for—the second half.
Post 3: Mid-race
Into the rhythm
Wellesley arrives with noise you feel before you hear it.
The famed “Scream Tunnel” breaks the concentration for a moment. Laughter, cheers, signs, encouragement from all sides.
Somewhere past halfway the race settles. The field stretches. The city slowly pulls closer.
Fuel goes in. Focus tightens. This is not yet the fight, but it’s where it begins to take shape.
Post 4: The turning point
Heartbreak Hill
Boston saves its hardest challenge for later.
The Newton Hills arrive in sequence. Four long, grinding inclines that drain legs already battered by early downhill miles. Not only is Heartbreak Hill steep, it is perfectly placed to break even the strongest marathoners.
For Giles, every step carries extra weight. A body not fully healed, muscles compensating, pace slowing but purpose intact. One step. Then another. “This is where I remind myself why I’m here,” he says later. “Running with tired legs is temporary. Living with MND is not. If I can keep moving, I will.”
This is the point where the participants must push themselves forward. Left foot, right foot. Crest Heartbreak. Glorious downhill miles to the finish.
Post 5: Finish & reflection
The most famous words in marathon history: Right on Hereford. Left on Boylston.
The finish line rises into view, signs, crowds, noise funnelling toward the blue and yellow gantry.
For Giles, Boston was never going to be easy. Carrying a calf injury from the Paris Marathon just a week earlier, he knew the challenge ahead. Recovery had felt promising, but a week wasn’t enough. Within the first half mile, the stabbing pain returned.
He ran the entire marathon with a limp. By mile 19, the strain had spread. Compensating for the injury impacted his quad, leaving his entire leg in excruciating pain for the final seven miles.
“This was quite possibly the hardest and most gruelling marathon I’ve ever run,” Giles says.
And yet, step by step, he kept going.
Crossing the Boston Marathon finish line in just over five hours, Giles completed another race in his Seven Marathons journey, completing another race in the Seven Marathons journey, the world’s oldest and most historic marathon.
There is fatigue. There is relief. “Boston takes everything you have,” he says. “But today, every step was for my mother and for everyone living with MND. If this run helps raise awareness, funding, or even a conversation then it was worth every mile.”
Boston is done.
Paris is behind him.
London is next.
The mission continues...
With Giles for the long run
As a partner to the world’s leading marathons, TCS is proud to stand with athletes like Giles, supporting purpose‑driven journeys that combine endurance, community, and impact.
Support the challenge and donate Giles Ashton‑Roberts fundraising for the Motor Neurone Disease Association
London is home turf.
But this homecoming comes with heavy legs, blurred sleep, and a body still negotiating the cost of two marathons run on different continents in the space of a fortnight.
Giles Ashton‑Roberts takes on the TCS London Marathon, marathon number three in his Seven Marathons, One Mission challenge to raise awareness and funds for Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
Support the cause: Giles Ashton‑Roberts fundraising for the Motor Neurone Disease Association
Today at a glance:
- Event: TCS London Marathon 2026 (running with Team TCS)
- Distance: 42.2 km (26.2 miles)
- Over 50,000 runners from all over the world
- Start: Blackheath (Blue Start)
- Finish: The Mall, London
- Start time: 9:45 a.m. (Wave 3)
- Marathon three in a compressed schedule: run on tired legs, through injury and jet lag, each mile carrying the mission to raise awareness and funds for Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
Opening | London
London wakes early.
Blackheath slowly fills with colour, nervous energy, and quiet rituals. This isn’t spectacle yet, it’s anticipation.
For Giles, this start line feels different. Not because it’s London, but because of what came before it.
Paris is less than two weeks behind him. Just back from Boston.
Flights, interviews, recovery squeezed into hotel rooms. A calf injury that never truly settled. Jet lag that refuses to lift.
“I’m tired — properly tired,” he admits before the start. “The leg hasn’t fully recovered, and my body still thinks it’s in another time zone. But this is London. And this race matters.”
This isn’t about chasing anything.
It’s about continuing.
Seven marathons. One mission.
This is chapter three.
Early miles | Finding rhythm
Giles starts steady.
Greenwich. Charlton. Woolwich.
Crowds spill into the streets early, layers wrapped tight, voices already loud. London doesn’t wait to warm up.
For Giles, the early miles are about listening. Checking in with the calf. Managing stiffness from travel. Letting the noise pass through without letting it pull him forward.
The temptation is there it always is. London gives energy freely.
Short strides. Controlled effort.
Running what the body will allow, not what the crowd encourages.
Mid‑race | The city unfolds
By halfway, London feels vast.
Tower Bridge rises and falls behind him, blue steel, noise magnified, cameras everywhere. Canary Wharf follows: tall, cold glass, legs stiffening on straight roads that offer nowhere to hide.
This is where the cumulative weight of the challenge begins to show.
The calf tightens.
The jet lag dulls focus.
Fuel becomes deliberate, not automatic.
The race settles into something quieter now. Less spectacle. More honesty.
“I’m not racing anyone out here,” Giles later reflects. “I was negotiating with myself. With fatigue. With how much I can ask of my body today.”
And still he keeps moving.
The decisive phase | Why he’s here
After 30 kilometres / 18,6 Miles London asks its questions.
The noise dips and swells unpredictably. Muscles that haven’t fully healed make themselves known. Every mile carries a little more weight than the one before it.
This is where the mission takes over.
Not time.
Not position.
Purpose. Running through pain passes. Living with MND doesn’t.
Finish & reflection | Home, differently
The Mall opens up.
Buckingham Palace ahead. Crowds deepen, voices sharpen.
Across the line! The race ends but the feeling lingers.
London is done.
There is exhaustion first. Then relief. Then something quieter. A race run on tired legs, through injury and jet lag, finished not with celebration but resolve.
“To be back here, at home, after Paris and Boston it puts everything into perspective,” Giles says. “Those marathons took a lot out of me, physically and emotionally, and I arrived in London carrying that with me. This wasn’t about running my best marathon or proving anything. It was about turning up again, listening to my body, and continuing the journey. Some days that’s what resilience looks like not chasing more, but choosing not to stop.”
Marathon three completed.
Paris is behind him.
Boston is still in the legs.
London now part of the story.
Four races remain. A period to recover, reset, and rebuild before training resumes for Sydney in August.
Support the challenge: Giles Ashton‑Roberts fundraising for the Motor Neurone Disease Association