Man runs marathons in ovary costume to honor sister lost to ovarian cancer

By Kate Pounds

A loving brother dresses as a giant ovary to run marathons - in memory of his sister who died of ovarian cancer.

Craig McMurrough, 54, aka Mr Ovary, had the 7ft 4ins costume custom made.

The enormous ovary, which has a bright pink fallopian tube coming out of the top, has facts about ovarian cancer printed on it.

Dad-of-one Craig dons the outfit to run marathons and other long distance races.

Craig, from near Cambridge, does this as part of his campaign to raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

A friend runs with him in an identical costume and they go by Mr and Ms Ovary.

Craig's sister Cheryl Earnshaw, a speech therapist, died aged 43 of the illness leaving behind a close family including her husband and two children aged 7 and 9.

Craig, who works in business change management, said: "It's a lot of fun!

"People don't forget seeing two giant ovaries.

"Sometimes we get mistaken for other body parts - but at least it gets the conversation going.

"Cheryl's death absolutely devastated our family.

"She was the most beautiful soul in the world - kids and parents she worked with loved her.

"It was awful - there was nothing they could do because it was so advanced - we just watched her slip away.

"It was so harrowing for all of us.

"I just want people to be aware of the early signs: it's so important to catch it early.

"I just remember the specialist saying it had spread to so many places and chemo wasn't an option - if I can change that for even one person it would be amazing.

Craig said at least two people have told him they've identified their own ovarian cancer early enough to get treatment because of awareness brought through his costume.

Cheryl first suffered with fatigue in April 2016, but a GP thought she had fibroids, Craig said.

Just weeks later she was so exhausted she was staying with her parents for respite, he said.

She was admitted to the Leicester Royal Infirmary when she started to suffer bloating, in early June and diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

The illness had spread and was untreatable, Craig said, and she died ten days after the diagnosis.

Cheryl, who worked for the NHS, had a unit in Leicestershire named after her, after she died on June 23 2016.

Craig's family were very close, he said: he and Cheryl were just 1.5 years apart, and went to the same school and then on to Manchester university.

Craig also uses his running to raise money for the charity Ovacome and has racked up over £70,000 so far.

He had the idea to run as a giant ovary and got the costume specially made to fit his body.

He's run five London Marathons in the costume, and among others has run the great north run, great south run, and half marathons in Birmingham, Blackpool, Sheffield, and Cambridge.

He's won awards including the Points of Light award from Rishi Sunak and the World Record for the fastest ovary to do the London Marathon.

He also teamed up with a running friend, Sarah Temple, 46, who has an identical costume and goes by the name of Ms Ovary.

The ovaries are just thirteen pounds in weight and are worn with a harness to keep them in place.

Craig and Sarah have to have their arms stretched out to the side holding a bucket in each hand, which makes running very tough, Craig said.

The pair have targeted a different region of the country each year since 2020: running local races and doing fundraising presentations.

Craig's been a long-distance runner for 20 years and ran a marathon in Dublin in 4 hours 20 minutes, ten years ago.

But he now runs to fundraise and raise awareness than to achieve a personal best, and said a marathon in the ovary costume can take up to seven hours.

"I find it so much more rewarding", he said, "It's never about the time and the more conversations you can have the better.

"Running in the ovary is very difficult - it's lovely and warm in winter and extremely hot in summer.

"It acts like a wind tunnel: once I nearly got blown into the sea."