Maria McCambridge represented Ireland in the women’s 5000 metres at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

From Dublin, McCambridge attended Mount Anville school and took up running at 14 before earning a sports scholarship at Providence College in Rhode Island – where she was coached by Ray Treacy – for four years.

She was a member of the celebrated Irish women’s cross country team that won bronze at the World Cross Country Championships in Dublin in 2002 alongside Sonia O’Sullivan, Catherina McKiernan and others. She subsequently moved up to the marathon and went on to win the Dublin Marathon outright in 2013 – one of a long series of high-level marathon performances extending into her late thirties and beyond. She narrowly missed selection for the London 2012 Olympics despite having achieved the qualifying standard, being the fourth of four qualifying Irish women when selectors could only take three.

She is married to Gary Crossan, a four-time Irish marathon champion. She was coached for many years by Dick Hooper and later by Chris Jones.