Two friends have become the first runners from the UAE to complete the World Marathon Challenge – to run seven marathons in seven days across seven continents – finishing in just five days and 19 hours.
If that feat was not hard enough, one of the duo, James Elliot-Square, crossed the finishing line on crutches after sustaining a serious tendon injury just a quarter of the way into his Herculean challenge.
Running alongside his friend Paris Norriss, Mr Elliot-Square endured five marathons on one leg, after developing tendinitis in his hip, pelvis and ankle. He even set a world record for a marathon on crutches, with a time of 5 hours, 39 minutes and 5 seconds.
The pair set off on their opening marathon at the Ultima Base Camp in Antarctica where temperatures plunged to -15°C, before getting back into a Russian Ilyushin 76 cargo plane to travel to Cape Town to start the next marathon 15 hours later.
The challenge was as much an athletic feat as a logistical task, as runners are only able to rest during flight times, with just three hours or so between landing and starting the next race.
Both men then ran marathons in Perth, Dubai, Madrid, Fortaleza in Brazil and, finally, Miami. Resting between marathons and fuelling up during travel were the biggest challenges, Mr Elliot-Square said.
“After Antarctica everything was fine,” he said. “Then basically with the lack of sleep, lack of fuel and back-to-back marathons within a few hours, when I hit South Africa I broke down. Everything just gave way, so I ended up doing it on crutches.
“The food was pretty average so we had to bring our own, but we had to get our timings right because if we started eating too far away, we ended up hungry, but if we ate too soon it would be very difficult to run on a full stomach. It made it quite a unique challenge and a bit of a painful week.”
After crossing the line in Miami, Florida, at 6am on February 6, the pair had covered 296km in less than a week, and travelled a total of 48,000km. The coldest race was Antarctica and the hottest was in Brazil, where temperatures climbed to 35°C with 80 per cent humidity.
“I've done a three-hour marathon before, but trying to do that day after day, plus all the travel, lack of fuel and injuries made it incredibly tough,” said Mr Elliot-Square.
“The marathon in Perth was particularly hard because it was in the dark, which exaggerates the loneliness. I knew I had to get through that one so I could get to Dubai for some treatment.”
Record run
The runners spent 65 hours in transit, and burnt around 42,000 calories during their efforts, but also managed to raise $52,000 for the Sovereign Art Foundation, a global charity that supports disadvantaged children through art projects.
Now back in the UAE, Mr Norriss told The National his running partner’s injury had inadvertently propelled him to set a new world record time for a marathon on crutches, beating the previous record of six hours and 24 minutes.
“In Cape Town, James had a previous injury that worsened and it ruined his day,” he said. “It reduced him to walking and finally to finish the race on crutches. With five marathons left to go, James committed to finishing the challenge, despite his injury and the pain he was in.
“This not only established him as a hero among the other competitors, but he also broke the world record twice in a week for the fastest time to complete a marathon on crutches.”
