Meet the Scottish super mum attempting a Guinness World Record running ultra marathon with her baby

Raised in a Govan council house surrounded by drugs and domestic abuse, and a victim herself of sexual abuse, she was told her dream of becoming a professional dancer wasn’t realistic for someone like her.

Physically she was too small and she didn't have the right training, having not been taken to weekly ballet classes like the other dancers. Ms McNiven ended up leaving school at 15 and worked as a cleaner in the toilets of a building site.

But as a self-described “go-getter”, she eventually saved enough money to move to London and finally attend a leading dance school, where she then juggled three jobs just to pay her fees.

Fast-forward over a decade and Ms McNiven has performed alongside music artists such as Liam Payne, Little Mix and Robbie Williams. She is also the founder of wellness company Soulhub, which helps women to discover the benefits of cold water therapy and breath work.

And the 35-year-old mother, now settled in Renfrewshire with her two young children, is determined to keep pushing the limits of what she can achieve.

In just seven days' time, Ms McNiven is attempting to set a Guinness World Record to be the first woman to run a 50km ultra-marathon with a pram and her nine-month-old son Lake in tow.

She took up running following the birth of her five-year-old daughter Soul and now preaches the benefits of the sport for other mothers with young children.

“When I first bought the pram and started running, I felt so vulnerable,” she said. “I felt like everyone was staring at me. But I was shocked at how quickly I came to love it and I got so much more than I anticipated.

“It’s been a game changer.”

Ms McNiven has been amazed by how much her baby boy loves their runs. The runs have become one the main ways she has bonded with her children.

“I don’t know if it’s the speed or the feeling of momentum, but their energy just changes when they’re in the pram,” she said. “Lake is teething and he was quite upset earlier. I took him out for a run and he didn’t cry once.

“He became so calm, so focused, and when we got back he was in a really good mood.”

Ms McNiven ran an ultra-marathon at five months pregnant and at first she thought attempting the Guinness World Record would simply be another personal challenge to work towards.

But before long she realised she wanted to use the run to share her story with others and support charities who help other women whose lives have been by impacted by trauma.

Both of her parents struggled with drug addiction, with the death of her father two years ago marking the end of his long battle with the illness. She kept her own experience of childhood sexual abuse a secret for a long time.

“Everything I do now is about figuring out how to heal yourself and change your own life, and help other people do the same,” she said. “I want to show that there is another way, that you can rewrite the story.”

Ms McNiven said the resilience she has learned from childhood had helped her to endure the “voluntary suffering” of ultra-running and push her body to its limits.

“That’s the beauty of coming from a difficult background,” she said. “You can harness it into something that’s going to help you grow.”

Through the world record attempt, the businesswoman hopes to encourage other mothers to give pram-running a go. She is considering setting up a club or charity race to enable other mothers with prams to run together.

“I want people to realise that by becoming a mum, you don’t lose, you gain,” she said.

“Having my children unlocked another level of potential for me - a superpower. If I can inspire women to do this with their children, that would be amazing.”

You can donate to the fundraiser here.