Jay McGuiness is no stranger to trying something new. While he's currently putting his culinary skills to the test on Celebrity MasterChef, the 36-year-old first broke into the mainstream with boy band The Wanted.
Since then McGuiness has starred on the West End, authored two novels, appeared on – and won – Strictly Come Dancing in 2015 alongside Aliona Vilani, and even completed a challenging 300km journey through the Austrian and Swiss Alps for the BBC show Pilgrimage. It's fair to say he's enjoyed a varied career.
But away from the entertainment world, McGuiness is a keen runner. It's an activity he only picked up in recent years, and he's well and truly caught the bug.
'Weird how running slowly turns from, “I should do this to maintain fitness I guess…” to, “This is a vital time that I cherish, time where I do some of my best pondering & processing, and is now an absolutely necessary ritual that I need to feel like myself,”' McGuiness said on X, highlighting how running has become as important to him mentally as it is physically.
'Let’s run baby,' he added.
And run he has. McGuiness has regularly taken part in Parkrun on Saturday mornings since 2024, completing his 25th event in March 2025. And he's no slouch across the 5K distance either, clocking a personal best of 23:32 earlier this year.
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According to data from RunningLevel, that time places him in the intermediate category for his age group. His time also ranks among the fastest celebrity 5k times.
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Ryan is a Senior Writer at Men’s Health UK with a passion for storytelling, health and fitness. Having graduated from Cardiff University in 2020, and later obtaining his NCTJ qualification, Ryan started his career as a Trainee News Writer for sports titles Golf Monthly, Cycling Weekly and Rugby World before progressing to Staff Writer and subsequently Senior Writer with football magazine FourFourTwo.
During his two-and-a-half years there he wrote news stories for the website and features for the magazine, while he also interviewed names such as Les Ferdinand, Ally McCoist, Jamie Redknapp and Antonio Rudiger, among many others. His standout memory, though, came when getting the opportunity to speak to then-Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher as the club won League One in 2023.
Having grown up a keen footballer and playing for his boyhood side until the age of 16, Ryan got the opportunity to represent Northern Ireland national futsal team eight times, scoring three goals against England, Scotland and Gibraltar. Now past his peak, Ryan prefers to mix weightlifting with running – he achieved a marathon PB of 3:31:49 at Manchester in April 2025, but credits the heat for failing to get below the coveted 3:30 mark…
You can follow Ryan on Instagram @ryan.dabbs or on X @ryandabbs_
