Competitors must run the standard 42.2 km marathon distance in Antarctica, Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, South America and North America within 168 hours, or seven days. The clock starts when the first marathon begins in Antarctica.

• The World Marathon Challenge is the only annual event that offers the opportunity to run 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days.
• The first marathon occurs within the Antarctic Circle on mainland Antarctica and the final marathon takes place in Miami, North America.
• The global route is Novo (Antarctica), Cape Town (Africa), Perth (Australia), Dubai (Asia),Madrid (Europe),Santiago (South America) and Miami (North America)
• After the initial marathon in Antarctica, competitors fly by charter plane to every marathon location around the globe.
• Successful participants are recognized by the Intercontinental Marathon Club®, which provides the definitive list of people who have run 7 marathons on 7 continents within 7 days.
• There is a competition element within the trip - the fastest combined marathon times, or average marathon time, for male and female categories are declared the outright winners of the overall challenge.
• Participants run 295 km (183 miles) over the seven-day period and spend about 48 hours in the air.
  
  World Records after 2018 World Marathon Challenge

  Fastest Average Marathon Time (Men) - Michael Wardian (USA): 2:45:57 hrs

  Fastest Average Marathon Time (Women) - Becca Pizzi (USA): 3:55:11 hrs

  Fastest Duration (Men) - Richard Donovan (IRL): 4 Days 22 Hours 3 Minutes

  Fastest Duration (Women) - Becca Pizzi (USA): 6 Days 8 hours 12 Minutes

  Other Achievements:

  First Blind Athlete– Sinead Kane (2017 World Marathon Challenge)

  Oldest Person(67 years old)– Alain d 'Andria (2018 World Marathon Challenge)

  Fastest Married Couple– Catherine Sun & Eric Xin (2017 World Marathon Challenge)