Running News Daily

A British man has become the first person to run a marathon in every country in the world

Nick Butter, 30, from Bristol, has run 196 marathons in 196 official countries after starting in Canada in January 2018 and finishing in Greece on Sunday.

He was inspired to do it to raise funds for Prostate Cancer UK after a friend was diagnosed with the disease.

Mr Butter said he was "overwhelmed" to have finished, after he crossed the finishing line of the Athens marathon.

He said he was "very tired" after completing the challenge, which took 674 days and involved visiting an average of just over two countries a week.

"In one sense it was just another finishing line, but in a bigger sense I've been visualising it, and finishing in that stadium in Athens was so special," he said.

He chose Athens for his final run due to it being "the home of the marathon".

Mr Butter, originally from Dorset, crossed the line with his friend Kevin Webber, who has prostate cancer and who inspired him to take up the challenge.

So far, he has raised more than £65,000 ($83,500US) of his £250,000 ($313,000US) target for Prostate Cancer UK.

During his epic feat, Mr Butter said he got through 10 passports, took 455 flights, ran through 15 war zones and was mugged twice.

He said he was now planning to continue running "one or two marathons a week" because he "loves to run".

The former banker said the number of 196 countries was based on 193 identified as sovereign states by the United Nations plus three others not officially recognised.

But he explained he had actually run 211 marathons, in order to "future proof" the record, by visiting places that might be classed as separate countries in the future.

Nick is not the only runner going after this challenge.  70-year-old Brent Weigner from the US has run marathons in 178 countries and hopes to do all countries himself within the next few years.  

(11/22/2019) Views: 1,517 ⚡AMP
by BBC news

The Run The World Global 52-week Challenge has finished. The team logged 122,123 miles or 335.5 daily. Michael Wardian was first American and Kenyan's Eliud Esinyen ran the most miles averaging 15.7 miles daily logging 5,738

Run The World Global Challenge is a world-wide celebration of running.  The program was started by Bob Anderson one year ago, July 4, 2018.  Since that time 281 runners around the world ran or walked and then logged 122,123 miles.  This equals 335.5 miles daily or 2,348 miles weekly for 52 weeks which equals 4.9 times around the world. 

"One of the key reasons we started this program," says creator Bob Anderson, My Best Runs and Runner's World magazine founder, "was to motivate people, bring together runners from all over and to run miles all over the world." 

That all happen. Runners from 20 countries participated, miles were run in 75 countries and it certainly motivated many runners to run more miles than they were running before. 

53-year-old James Kalani had not run much over the last few years and then he entered the RTW Challenge.  After getting in good shape over several months, he started pushing it for Challenge #5 which started March 31. Over the last 94 days he ran and logged 1536 miles.  That's 114 miles weekly.  It was not just covering miles, many were quality. On June 16 he ran 30.6 miles at an average pace of 6:41 per mile.

Before the RTW Challenge creator Bob Anderson was running on average 20 miles weekly.  "I got so motivated by this challenge," says Bob.  "I looked forward to running not just one time daily but often I would run two or three times.  I took a photo everyday and posted it in our Runner's Feed.  I also read every post and commented on each for the whole year.  I have been running since 1962 and have run nearly 1,000 races.  I am an addicted runner but I needed something new and this was it."

In the end Bob averaged 5 miles daily or 35 miles weekly for a total of 1830 miles for the year.  With the added miles he also improved his racing performance.  He ran 7:54 pace for 10k and placed third 70 plus at the London 10,000 in May.  A race with nearly 20,000 runners.

The RTW Challenge team did some amazing things during the year.  69-year-old Brent Weigner lives in Cheyenne Wyoming but many of his 2036 miles were run outside of the United States.  In fact Brent ran miles in 30 different countries. 

The most miles were run and logged in the United States.  The top five countries were: United States (64,899 miles), Kenya (24,066 miles), Palau (8,242 miles), India (7,423 miles) and South Africa (6,765).  The amazing story here is that the little country of Palau has less that 22,000 inhabitants and placed third.  Their team leader Aaron Salvador logged 1,584 miles himself and encouraged his team to run and log. 

The team leader for South Africa, Liz Dumon, is the key reason why her country placed fourth.  She herself ran and logged 1000 miles.  Liz encouraged people to sign up.  In fact our youngest members were twins she recruited along with mom and grandma. The 7-year-old twins Jonathan (logged 118 miles) and his sister Michelle (logged 100 miles) had loads of fun and posted regularly in the Runners Feed.  Their dogs joined in on the fun too. (Third photo of twins with Grandma)

Their 56-year-old grandma (Johanna Fourie) logged 672 miles and placed 10th for females.  Right behind her was mom (Erika Fourie) with 625 miles. 

Who said age is just a number? The top three overall females were 65 plus.  Placing first was 68-year-old Kat Powell (USA).  She logged 1271 miles.  Not far back was 69-year-old Linda Robinson (USA) with 1145 miles followed by 65-year-old Carmella DiPippa (PW) with 1040 miles.  Sixth female was 71-year-old Karen Galati (USA) who logged 835 miles.

On the men's side there were so many stars.  35-year-old Kenyan Eliud Esinyen averaged 15.7 miles daily or 110 miles weekly (second photo).  Many times he ran three times daily.  On April 21 he ran a marathon on a tough course at high altitude clocking 2:22:46 which is 5:27/mile pace.  On January 27 he ran a 10k clocking 31:05.  Eliud ran and logged the most with 5,738 miles. 

Kenya's team leader Willie Korir (27) placed second overall with 5195 miles.  He also posted images regularly in the Runners Feed along with comments.  He also wrote several stories for My Best Runs Running News Daily column including finding inside information about the king of the marathon, Eluid Kipchoge.

The first American and third overall was 45-year-old Michael Wardian with 3618 miles (frist photo). This ultra star pulled off many amazing feats during the year.  Most recently on June 29 he ran 89.9 miles around Washington DC.  On May 4th he ran 62.14 miles at 7:14/mile average pace in Sacramento.  He ran the Big Sur Marathon in 2:35:18 making the podium.  He had run the Boston Marathon earlier a little faster clocking 2:33:23.

In March he travelled to Israel and posted the fastest known time on the 631-mile Natoinal Israel Trail.  He covered this distance in 10 days, 16 hours and 36 minutes.  Earlier he not only ran seven marathons on seven continents in seven days (winning them all) he tacked on three more marathons when he got home.  That's ten marathons in ten days.  He is the complete runner with a wide range.  On Feb 10th he ran a 5k in 17:01. 

"Michael is one amazing versatile runner and we were happy when he decided to join our team," says Bob Anderson.

Second American and fifth overall was 75-year-old Frank Bozanich who logged 3523 miles. Frank has run many ultra races over the years and have won many.  Lots of these miles were not real fast compared to what he has done before.  But on July 30th last year he ran 20 miles in Reno in two hours and 43 minutes.  That is an 8:09/mile pace. 

Finishing in seventh place was 72-year-old Paul Shimon who logged 2835.  Like so many of our team, Paul had to deal with a lot of bad weather in Kansas during the winter.  But he layered up and got in the miles.

Michael T Anderson (61)  placed eighth overall logging 2,798 with lots of fast times along the way.   He has run over 130,000 miles in his lifetime so far.  On June 8th he ran 19:13 for 5k in Atlanta where he lives.  On April 28 he clocked 39:25 for 10k.

"The fastest runner on our team was Joel Maina Mwangi," says Bob Anderson.  This 34-year-old Kenyan placed 13th overall with 1,953 miles logged.  On March 10 he ran a 30:14 10k in Torino Italy.   He ran six half marathons under 1:05.  His fastest was run in Aosta, Italy where he clocked 1:02:50 on September 30. 

"There are as many amazing stories," says Bob Anderson. "I am glad our event is helping motivate runners all over the world.  I am looking forward for year two." 

What's next?  Run The World Global Challenge #6 will be a 10-week program.  There is no entry fee.  You just need to have a free My Best Runs (the sponsor of this program) account and sign up for Run The World. 

(07/03/2019) Views: 3,179 ⚡AMP

Brent Weigner heads the USA group for the Eastern Caribbean Challenge starting March 8, that is 7 marathons in 6 countries in 7 days

We are a few days away from the start of this epic 7 Marathons, 6 Countries, 7 Days cruise adventure called the Eastern Caribbean Challenge 2019.  The group includes runners from around the world with exceptional running resumes.  Nine of the 12 runners who have completed a marathon in 100+ countries will be part of this challenge. Combined, these runners have completed over 4,000 marathons in 180+ countries around the world.. 43 participants from 14 countries will touch down in Guadeloupe to start the challenge.

Here are three of the participants: 

Dr. Brent Weigner (USA):  Brent Weigner (second photo)  is the king of Marathon Globetrotting. He holds multiple World Records in long-distance running. The 70-years old retired Geography teacher has run a marathon in 170 countries which is a World Record.  

He also holds the World Record for completing a marathon on all 7 continents ten times. Moreover, Brent is the only runner in the world to have completed an ultramarathon at both North and South Pole.  What makes his accomplishments even more amazing is due to the fact that he is a 3-times cancer survivor.  Brent is also part of the Run The World 4 Challenge which started March 1 and will last 30 days.

Sidy Diallo (France):  Sidy Diallo (third photo) is a 63-year-old French diplomat and barefoot runner, based in Paris. He was 55 when he ran his first marathon. To-date, he has completed 191 marathons in 73 countries, including 48 marathons in 2013. He is a seven continents marathon and ultramarathon finisher.

Sidy completed his first barefoot marathon on October 11, 2015, in Zagreb (Croatia), and has already run 42 barefoot marathons and one ultramarathon (90 km), in 21 countries. For more information, please visit his website: www.sidy42k.com.

Lichu Sloan (Taiwan): Lichu (first photo), at age 70, is the oldest female on the trip. She has completed 222 marathons in 81 countries across all 7 continents. She qualified for, and ran Boston Marathon, three times; ran 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 weeks; completed all World Marathon Majors and a marathon in each of 50 US States and D.C., two times. Lichu started marathon running at age 52.

(03/06/2019) Views: 3,238 ⚡AMP

The Run The World Challenge 2 team has finished and here are the awards

"We have finished," says Lize Dumon (photo) a RTW Challenge 2 team member from South Africa, "Great achievement! But this morning, going out for my run just felt that little bit harder. I haven't realized how precious this RTW community has become to me. It is like an extended running family, a safe place to share everything running without rolling eyes and sighs from non-runners. It has become a place where I learn so much about running from reading everybody's posts and a place of immense encouragement! I don't want to leave this place... bring it on Challenge 3!" 

Run The World Global Run Challenge is a global event celebrating running, motivating the team, inspiring others and completing the goal.  The 131 member RTW Challenge 2 team ran and logged miles in 24 countries reaching a total of 24,901 miles in 44 days 18 hours 29 minutes.  

"This event is a real motivator. Many of our members (including me) ran many more miles than usual," says Run The World Challenge Team Caption, Bob Anderson. 34-year-old team member Carmen Gair from South Africa posted, "Thank you...for this amazing challenge...thank you...for motivating me to run more than double my usual mileage in this amount of time."

She ran and logged 151 miles in 44 days.  Team members added this challenge to their existing goals and used the Challenge to further motivate them.  

"Here are the special awards for our RTW Challenge 2 team," says Bob Anderson who reached 260.66 miles himself.

For Outstanding achievement: Frank Bozanich age 74 logged 801 miles...

Most Inspiring: Lize Dumon set her goal to reach 200 miles and she did that. She also motivated other team members in South Africa that she recruited to reach their goal as well...

Most Motivating: Aaron L. Salvador from the little country of Palau logged 377.99 miles, recruited others and posted a note and photo everyday...For

Best Performance: Willie Korir (second photo) from Kenya logged the most miles (993.88) which is an average of 22.5 miles per day. This is being shared with Joel Maina Mwangi also from Kenya who not only logged in 610.44 miles but he raced four half marathons during the Challenge period clocking 1:02:52, 1:03:19, 1:02:50 and 1:02:54...

Five Most Inspiring stories: based on their story posted on My Best Runs: (this award goes to the five who received the most views on My Best Runs) Joyce Lee (1178 views), Michael Wardian (851 views), Gloria Nasr (616 views), Joel Maina Mqangi (492 views), Pete Magill (400 views)...

Best Youngest performance: Zander Brister age 11 logged 16.32 miles. He ran one mile in Hollister clocking 6:19 and he also averaged 7:42/mile pace at the Pacific Grove Double Road Race 15k...

Best Oldest performance: Frank Bozanich age 74 logged 801 miles. Shared with 71-year-old Paul Shimon who logged 655.37 miles...

Top Fifteen Spirit awards: (Based on posts on the RTW Feed) Aaron L Salvador, Michael Anderson, Brent Weigner, Danilo Purlia, Larry Allen, Asya Cabral, Lize Dumon, Roger Wright, Geoffrey Smith, Carmen Gair, Annie Conneau, Joseph Brazil, Vince Martignetti, Marnie Margolis, Willie Korir... 

Best Single Run: Michael Wardian when he ran 184.5 miles in 36 hours 48 minutes 14 seconds on the C&O Canal Trail...

Notable Mentions: Boaz Kipyego logged 788.61 miles and came to the United States and placed fourth at the Twin City Marathon. Rosaline Nyawira was first female logging 454.37 miles. Brent Weigner (69) has been running races every weekend including running a marathon in another country Sri Lanka. He logged 258 miles. James Kalani has gotten back into running (this challenge motivating him) and has already run 4 miles at 5:33 pace. He logged 252 miles.

Ultra marathon star Gloria Nasr from France logged 237 miles. Rosaura Tennant ran both the Berlin and Chicago marathon during this Challenge. Becca Pizzi was first woman in the marathon run inside a NFL stadium in Boston...

"Everyone is a winner on our team," says Bob Anderson.  "I can't wait to do this again."  RTW Challenge 3 start Oct 29. 

(10/13/2018) Views: 2,067 ⚡AMP

Run The World Global Run Challenge 1 July 4 Start Special Awards Announced

The Run The World Global Run Challenge 1 presented by My Best Runs started July 4, 2018.  The goal was to run and log 24,901 Miles in the shortest posible time.  "The mission was to celebrate running, motivate our team, inspire others and complete the challenge," says team caption Bob Anderson. 

The team of 175 active runners finished in 36 Days 23 Hours and 13 Minutes on Thursday night August 9th at 11:13pm (PDT).  "It was an amazing event and I can not wait until the next one starting August 29," says Geoff Smith (team member and two time Boston Marathon winner). 

"Everyone on our team was a winner and deserve an award," says Bob Anderson.  "Here are our special awards just announced today.  Congrats to these winners and our entire team." 

Outstanding achievement - Frank Bozanich age 74 logged 475 miles. 

Most Inspiring - Aaron L. Salvador from the little country of Palau logged 296.4 miles and posted a comment and photo everyday. Shared with Geoff Smith who also posted a comment and photo everyday logged 240.5 miles (which is almost double what he was doing prior to the Challenge)  

Most Motivating - Grace Padilla (US) logged 327.11 miles posted a comment and creative photo everyday. Grace who is 47 placed 11th overall and was first female.  

Best Performance - Willie Korir from Kenya not only did he log the most miles (797.37) he also ran one of his workouts at 4:37/mile pace for 9.13 miles.  

Five Most Inspiring stories - based on their story posted on My Best Runs: (this award goes to the five who received the most views on My Best Runs) Michael Wardian (1,677 views), Benn Griffin (1,461 views), Swetha Amit (1,431 views), Roy Pirrung (1,241 views) and Kiranpal Singh Dhody (1,088 views)  

Most Inspiring Photo - Grace Padilla´s July 5th photo training on the track in Mammoth Lakes, California (featured photo).  

Best Youngest performance - Owen Wall age 11 who logged 34.2 miles including running 8.1 miles in one day at 9:59 pace during his longest ever run. Shared with Elliot Daniels age 14 who ran and logged 184.45 miles and ran 5:47/mile pace for six miles in the Wharf to Wharf race in Santa Cruz, California.  

Best Oldest performance - Libby James age 82 who logged 81.81 miles (rounds up to 82). Shared with 74-year-old Frank Bozanich who ran and logged in 475 miles. 

Top Fifteen Spirit awards (based on coment and photo posted regularly that appeared on the Run The World Feed): Aaron L Salvador, Grace Padilla, Shawn Whalen, Michael Anderson, Brent Weigner, Danilo Purlia, Larry Allen, Rosaura Tennant, Asya Cabral, Kati Toivanen, Lize Dumon, Roger Wright, Abbey Cannon, Geoffrey Smith, and Pulkit Singh.  

Best Single Run - Michael Wardian when we ran 100.5 miles in 30 hours 23 minutes to place 11th on July 21 at Hardrock 100.  

Notable Mentions - Dave Mcgillivray logged 164.52 miles (Boston Marathon Director), Becca Pizzi logged 226.17 miles (Holds the record for running seven Marathons. Seven days on seven Continents), Liz Dumon had never run 150 Miles in 30 days before this challenge, Boaz Kipqego from Kenya logged 588.52 miles and placed second, JR Mintz (age 52) logged the most miles by an American with 480.86 miles, Paul Shimon (age 71) logged 390.71 miles placed 6th overall and was third American, Harpal Singh Gill was first runner from India logging 331.66 miles placing 10th overall, Sam Tada was first runner from Japan logging 237.30 miles placing 29th overall. Malin Andersson co-owner of World´s Marathons logged in 77.67 miles and Will Adams who logged 51.58 miles mostly all plogging (picking up trash while running).  

Our next Run The World Global Run Challenge starts August 29.  There is a $25 entry fee to help cover expenses unless you can not afford it and then it will be waived.  

(08/16/2018) Views: 2,534 ⚡AMP

This group that became 80 runners accepted my 500 mile June 6 Challenge

Yesterday, June 6, was Global Running Day.  A day celebrating running.  It is exciting to have our own day, celebrating what many of us do daily or at least regularly. 

Among other things the day is about inspiring people.  At noon the day before I had just finished doing my daily run-to-lunch few miles. 

I was enjoying an avocado toast and the best ice tea in town before heading back to the office.  Knowing that Global Running Day was the next day, I was thinking that My Best Runs needed to do something.  

I knew there were already a lot of well thought out programs taking place June 6.  I decided, on the spot, that we would do something just for the fun of running.  We would run our challenge like a road race back in the 1970's.  

Since we needed to get the word out quickly, we would use my Facebook account to reach people.  I would record everything by hand.  Making things more interesting,  I was flying down to our MBR/Ujena office in Mexico in the middle of the day Wednesday.  (I would be out of touch for nearly five hours.) 

There would be no entry fee and no prizes.  There would be no official results.  It was all about running.  We would not be raising money for a cause.  Each of us would run on June 6 and log in miles on my FB account. 

Just to see if we could do it, my goal was for our group to run at least 500 miles June 6 and hopefully have 100 participants   Everyone had to post their miles by midnight. 

In the end, 80 people posted 560.12 miles for our My Best Runs Global Running Day 500 Mile Challenge.  We did it.  We showed the world that a group of people can come together (with no notice) from all over the world and run the equivalent distance from San Francisco to San Diego. 

All types of runners from slow to fast joined our challenge.  I am very proud of each and every participant but I would like to mention some of our gang here. 

We had two time Boston Marathon winner (Geoff Smith) post 10.5 miles, Co-owner of Worlds Marathons Malin Andersson from Sweden posted 6.2 miles, Bertrand Newson who heads up a popular bay area running group (2L2Q) posted 8.45 miles and Willie Korir from Kenya posted the most miles with 22.5.  Verity Breen posted the most miles for a female hitting 19 miles and Boston Marathon historian Tom Derderian ran 5 miles.  The youngest female to win Bay To Breakers (age 11) who ran her first marathon at age 5 Mary Etta Britano now 55  posted 10 miles.

Julie who we met at the front desk of our hotel in Paris ran 5 miles, Ram VenKatraman who heads up a major running group in Mumbai, India ran 4.69 miles and super ultra-marathon star Michael Wardian ran 12.5 miles.  Phil Camp who among other things won the 4th annual Marine marathon (1979) posted 8.3 miles.

Roger Wright used to weigh 278 pounds a few years back before he started running marathons logged 13.5 miles and ultra runner since the early 1970's superstar Frank Bozanich ran 9 miles. Joshua Holmes Ultra runner and Run It Fast founder posted 2 miles.

Brent Weigner who has run more marathons in more countries than anyone posted 1.5 miles, and the list goes on and on. 

One common thing about our group of 80 runners is that everyone loves running.  Until our next challenge! Run on...  I ran 6.6 miles which I thought was only fitting.  This was our first Run The World Challenge. 

(06/07/2018) Views: 2,714 ⚡AMP
by Bob Anderson

Things have really changed. In 1969 I was out running in the snow and a person just could not understand why I did not need a ride

A friend of mine, Brent Weigner who has run a marathon or beyond in more countries than anybody, posted a list of the 25 worse questions to ask a runner on FB today.  Some of the questions included, "How far is your marathon," "Why would you need so many running shoes," "Is running safe at your age," and "Do you need a ride?"  That last one reminded me of a story that happened to me in the winter of 1969 when I lived in Manhattan, Kansas (before I moved to California).  It was snowing and there was about four inches already on the ground.  It was about 25 degrees and I wanted to get in five miles.  I put on a few layers and hit the road.  Outside of town, after about two miles, a woman with a baby in the back pulled alongside in her car and asked if she could give me a ride.  I told her I was just running and did not need a ride. "Thanks for asking," I said.  Then she asked where was I going.  "It is cold out and I can get you there much faster," she said.  I told her again that I was running and did not need a ride.  As she pulled away she said, "Are you sure you don't need a ride? It is cold out."  She drove about a quarter of a mile down the road and pulled over again.  At this point I was thinking of turning around because now she was really messing up my run but I kept going.  As I approached the car she yelled out, "Are you sure you don't want a ride?"  This time I just ran by like I was running away from a dog.  She met well but she just could not understand that I was just running.  Things have changed.  That was 1969. (06/01/2018) Views: 1,769 ⚡AMP
by Bob Anderson

Brent Weigner has flown way over two million miles traveling to marathons and beyond

"Last weekend I ran my 320th marathon, this one in the Falkland Islands. I have run marathons or beyond in 153 countries," says Brent Weigner.  "I have flown way over two million miles going to marathons, ultra marathons, 150 mile multi day stage races, and snowshoe ultras.

"I have been flying my entire life. We have flown around the globe when competing in a Global Scavenger Hunt. In 1976 I bought a round the world standby ticket for $999.00 on Pan American Airlines.

"In 1985 I received my private pilots license and flew about 200 hours for a couple years. Since 2013 I have been trying to run marathons/ultras in 20 new countries each year. My personal record was 38 new countries in 2017...

"My wife and I retired the same day, June 4, 2010. We were in are early 60s and everything was paid off. We have no bills and spend all our money on traveling. We buy experiences and not things that are dust catchers.

"When we die the only thing we want to take with us is what we have given away while we were alive."

Photo - marathon I ran in the country of Benin in Africa.

(Editor's Note: No one has run marathons in more countries than Brent Weigner and in his younger days he ran 2:45:50 at the Boston Marathon.)

(03/21/2018) Views: 3,145 ⚡AMP
by Brent Weigner

Brent Weigner has now Run a Marathon in 150 countries

Wyoming’s Brent Weigner posted this on his Facebook page yesterday. “ I finished country 150 and marathon 317. I placed 5th overall and my time was 5:17:11.... Some of the runners at the start represented the Country Marathon Club... I was first and last in the 60-69 age group. Old man still running.” This marathon was held in the country of Turks and Caicos Island. Brent has run more marathons and beyond in more countries than anyone in the world. 2018 is his 50th year doing this! (01/14/2018) Views: 1,919 ⚡AMP

Who Has Run the Most Marathons In Different Countries?

MRB FAST FACT: Brent Weigner, 68-year-old from Cheyenne Wyoming, has run a marathon or ultra in 148 different countries as of Dec 2 according to the Country Marathon Club that keeps track of records. In 1979 Brent ran his best marathon (2:45:50) in Boston. By 1999 he had completed a marathon on all seven continents. At least 53 of the 148 were ultras including six 150 mile stage races. He ran his first marathon June 30, 1968 in 3:53 at the Whitewater Marathon in Wisconsin. (12/12/2017) Views: 2,487 ⚡AMP