A look at this years 'ultra marathon' and the incredible achievements of its participants
ADVERTISEMENTFor most, the idea of running a single marathon in a day remains an aspiration. Even the thought of it can seem exhausting. Participants of the World Marathon Challenge go quite a few steps further.
They run the standard 42.2km (26.2mile) marathon on a different continent, every day, for a week. Between marathons they barely have time to catch their breath as they grab their belongings, hop on a charter plane and set off for the next continent.
Incredible map of The World Marathon Challenge, which
blindrunner777</a> is about to embark on. Sinead's first marathon takes place this Monday <a href="https://t.co/TmSRLMVZQq">pic.twitter.com/TmSRLMVZQq</a></p>— Allianz Ireland (AllianzIreland) January 21, 2017
This year’s event kicked off on January 23 at Union Glacier in Antarctica where the 31 runners endured some of the most extreme weather on Earth, with howling winds in frost-bit, minus 30 degree-centigrade conditions.
Next up was Punta Arenas in Chile, followed by Miami (USA), Madrid (Spain), Marrakech (Morocco), Dubai (UAE) before the marathoners crossed the final finish line in Sydney (Australia) on January 30th.
Now that's a world record!
blindrunner777</a> finished <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/worldmarathonchallenge?src=hash">#worldmarathonchallenge</a>: 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days. <a href="https://t.co/b9cAzxhamn">pic.twitter.com/b9cAzxhamn</a></p>— Jon Williams (WilliamsJon) January 30, 2017
This year’s winner was American marathoner and current average-time-record-holder for running all six World Marathon Majors, Michael Wardian. He managed the superhuman feat of averaging just 2 hours 45 minutes per marathon, shattering the previous record average of 3 hours 32 minutes.
Michael Wardian completes 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days with a 2:45:57 average time in the World Marathon Challenge. pic.twitter.com/YcwEMWHvWT
— iRunFar (@iRunFar) January 29, 2017
As if that wasn’t enough, Wardian proceeded to run an extra 17 miles (27.35km) just to round the distance up to 200 miles (321.8km) in one week.
Congrats
mikewardian</a> on winning every leg of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldMarathonChallenge?src=hash">#WorldMarathonChallenge</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/7continents7days?src=hash">#7continents7days</a>, averaging 2:45 (also his final time)! <a href="https://t.co/k5shZ3QOEQ">pic.twitter.com/k5shZ3QOEQ</a></p>— Ian Sharman (sharmanian) January 30, 2017
As Wardian told online publication running.competitor.com the most testing aspects of the challenge weren’t just the running: “Getting your passport stamped, making sure you have the right visa, making sure you fill out the customs forms. Figuring out where the bathroom is. Being confined to a small space,” He listed. “Also, running a marathon then jumping on a plane, so your feet swell up.”
“You just get off the plane, and you start running. You have like two hours to clear customs, change into your running kit — sometimes change in the airport — then you go run, then get back on the plane. I thought I’d have time to work and get food and stuff. None of that. It really was all-encompassing. It took every ounce of energy just to be ready to go the next day.”
On top of all that, the marathoners went “from Antanctica at -30 to Dubai at 95 and no shade, with a headwind, to last night [in Sydney] with the humidity.”
Of the nine female competitors, Chilean Silvana Camelio was victorious with an average of four hours and 12 minutes per marathon. The only American woman to compete, BethAnn Telford has brain cancer and reportedly raised over $1 million for the foundation ABC2 (Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure).
For Telford, the hardest part was: “saying goodbye and thanking all the participants, race staff, etc. as they all have been extremely supportive of me and the rest of the group. It was an amazing bonding experience for us all.”
Survivor takes on the World Marathon Challenge: “It's not me traveling the world. It is me proving I can do this.” https://t.co/uqGe1N7l5cpic.twitter.com/ZB9lBhTfeu
— Cancer and Careers (@CancerAndCareer) January 20, 2017
History of the event
The World Marathon Challenge was officially launched in 2015 by Irishman, pilot and ‘ultra-runner’ veteran Richard Donovan.
Richard Donovan will be the first in aviation history to charter a flight to visit all 7 Continents in 7 Days #worldmarathonchallengepic.twitter.com/jwkxbGSaDZ
— John O'Regan (@johnoregan777) January 19, 2017
Donovan set a world record for the same challenge in 2009 before smashing his own record in 2012 when he completed seven marathons on seven continents in just 120 hours.
Dronw footage of the first leg of the 2017 World Marathon Challenge in Antarctica. pic.twitter.com/1rlDarUy0b
— Richard Donovan (@RichardDonovan7) January 24, 2017
The sporting aim of The World Marathon Challenge is to see “how far you can run, how far you can push yourself and how far you are prepared to travel”. The other objective is to raise money for charitable causes. It is unknown exactly how much his year’s challenge raised but when asked for an estimate Donovan said “There’s been millions raised for charity”.
Amazing! We are incredibly proud of
blindrunner777</a> completing day 7 and entering the <a href="https://twitter.com/GWR">GWR#worldmarathonchallengepic.twitter.com/dClgEUy44d— Allianz Ireland (@AllianzIreland) January 29, 2017