“It took a bit longer for me to trust in the idea, and it was only because of my mum that I trusted Robert because she grew up watching him run marathons and obviously represent Australia and win Commonwealth gold.” Maher joined the project aged 25, having never run a marathon nor even knowing how long the course was. Months later, on November 7, 2010, Maher completed his first major marathon alongside four other Indigenous runners, Joseph Davies, Caleb Hart and Juan Darwin. In the years since, 156 other Indigenous athletes have joined them to train for and run an international marathon through the program. While his 2010 teammates are no longer running, Maher is still going strong. In 2022, he became the first Indigenous Australian to finish the six World Marathon Majors – London, Chicago, Berlin, Tokyo, New York and Boston. Now Sydney has been upgraded to major status, he’s aiming to become the first to finish all seven. On August 31, now aged 42, Maher will run the Sydney Marathon to raise awareness for other programs overseen by the Indigenous Marathon Foundation (now the parent organisation overseeing the IMP), including the Warrior Project, which aims to create running programs for Indigenous youth in prisons and detention centres.