Marathon runner sets record for 10 marathons in 10 days, adding to resume from Spider-Man to Antarctica

Michael Wardian is not your average world record-holding marathon-runner. The 45-year-old father of two from Washington DC does more than 50 races a year and has just set a record for the fastest 10 marathons in 10 days, pending ratification, to add to his resume that has five other Guinness World Records, including the fastest fancy dress marathon and fastest marathon with a pram.

Although five out of his six world records have recently been broken, Wardian is still the current record holder for the World Marathon Challenge, also known as 777 – seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.

In 2017, he ran all seven in an average time of two hours and 45 minutes. This year he tried to beat his own record, but came short, running “only” 2:55 on average. Not satisfied, Wardian then added three more marathons after the event and set the record for 10 fastest marathons on 10 consecutive days. He now waits for Guinness to make it official.

What is the appeal to a four-time Olympic trialist with a 2:17 personal best to run a lot of easy (for him) times back-to-back?

“Easy times, you say, but World Marathon Challenge is super tough,” he said. “This year in Antarctica it was too warm, the snow was mushy, hard to run on. Santiago marathon in Chile had 1,200 feet of climbing, Madrid had 2,000 feet of climbing.”