Man under fire over 'selfish' marathon proposal

This photo is going viral for all the wrong reasons. What are your first thoughts?

Cassidy Pearce

3 min read

March 25, 2025 - 9:41AM

Sex Relationships

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A man has come under fire in Wales for proposing to his girlfriend as she finished a marathon.

Whilst many think the idea was thoughtful, others are criticising him for the move - accusing him of making the day and the marathon all about him.

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Image: TikTok / @sarahjohn69.

Selfish or thoughtful?

TikTok user @sarahjohn69 has taken to the app to share a video of her now-fiancé proposing to her as she completed a marathon.

She initially posted the video for the first time back in June 2024 with the caption, ‘started the Marathon as a girlfriend, finished it as a fiancé’, accumulating close to 3 million views.

In the video, you can see Sarah crossing the finish line after just over five hours of running, to see her husband getting down one one knee. He reminds her to stop her watch before popping the question.

Sarah reposted the video this month as part of the ‘Hozer’s scream’ trend.

But, the response isn’t quite what she expected.

Commenters were divided

Initially, comments on the post were complimentary, congratulating the two, and her fiance in particular, for a beautiful and thoughtful proposal.

“Girl he made sure you stopped your watch he doesn’t even need to propose at this point,” one commenter said.

“Him telling you to stop your watch is so cute,” said another.

“Just when you think a finish line can’t get better,” a third agreed.

“He just made her moment a thousand times more memorable by wanting her to be his wife!!” another person said.

But, they quickly turned sour - asking why Sarah couldn’t have just one thing to herself.

“Am I the only one who thought he stole her moment?” asked one commenter.

“‘How do I make this all about me’ moment,” another agreed.

“Hmmm…should’ve let her have her moment to reflect and celebrate HER achievement, that proposal could’ve waited another day!” another person said.

“Definitely should’ve saved this proposal for another day, totally stole her moment,” said another.

Sarah clapped back at the comments, saying that her proposal was everything she could have wanted and more.

“He knows how important running is to me and it was the most thoughtful, perfect proposal I could’ve imagined,” she wrote in the comments.

@sarahjohn69
No I’m still not over this incredible moment💍🏃🏻‍♀️ #proposal #engagement #running #marathon #runtok #girlsthatrun #runner #marathonrunner #engaged #fyp
♬ Northern Attitude - Noah Kahan & Hozier

This again???

Viewers were quickly reminded of another similar incident last year, when a dad was slammed for ‘ruining mum’s big moment’ after pushing their children in their mother’s way just as she was about to cross the finish line of a half marathon.

The woman, Luciana Lourencao, 37, dodged her children, throwing her arms up in triumph as she ultimately completed the race.

Whilst people were extremely critical of the dad for his acts, Luciana ended up speaking out against these people, saying that crossing the finish line with her girls was her

“We decided to take the girls to the race so that I could cross the finish line with them,” the personal trainer said at the time.

“I wasn’t competing for money, it was a race in my city, and I thought it would have been really nice and cool to create this moment with the children.”

Luciana was not expecting to be the first woman to complete the event. When she realised she would be, with another runner close behind her, she dodged her kids, whom their dad had pushed towards her.

“I needed to get there and that was it. I saw the girls quickly, but I couldn’t stop,” she said.

“The children understood and were not upset. I explained to them that it is very tiring and difficult to run a half marathon.”