The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) sends huge congratulations and thanks to Dubai residents James Elliot-Square and Paris Norriss, who successfully completed the World Marathon Challenge – running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days – with James overcoming injury by racing on crutches.
The first people from the UAE to complete this challenge, the duo started their first marathon at the Ultima Basecamp in Antarctica on 31 January, where both ran strong marathons despite the temperature falling as low as -15C. They then took off from the camp’s blue-ice runway on an Ilyushin 76 cargo plane to fly to Cape Town for the start of the next marathon just 15 hours later.
Having finished in a very competitive 11th place on day one, James’ second day was hijacked by the return of an injury that had disrupted his training for months. He was first reduced to walking and finally had to finish the African leg on crutches.
With five marathons left to run and with his mind set on his higher purpose of raising funds for underprivileged children through SAF, he bravely committed to finishing the whole challenge on crutches. This not only established him as a hero among his competitors, but he also broke the world record twice in a week for the fastest time to complete a marathon on crutches.
With the remaining marathons spread across Perth in Australia, Dubai in Asia, Madrid in Europe, Fortaleza in South America and, finally, Miami in North America, the challenge is as much a feat of logistics and endurance as it is athleticism. Competitors only get to rest during flight times and there is only two or three hours available between landing and starting the next race.
With James on crutches and Paris nearing breaking point at the halfway stage after the Dubai leg, they were fortunate to be able to squeeze in an intense physiotherapy treatment in a hyperbaric chamber at the Brain Performance Centre in Dubai. “I would not have been able to run in Madrid if we hadn’t had the Brain Performance Centre to put me back on track”, he said.
After running through the night, Paris Norriss finally reached the finish line in Miami at 6am on 6 February. He was followed over the line shortly after by James on crutches. Due to their journey through different time zones, they had both run 296km and travelled 48,000km in less than six gruelling days after the start in Antarctica.
SAF is very proud and very grateful. Their epic journey has been covered on their campaign social pages @stridesforgood and @sovereignartfoundation
Media Files – https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10NBsbJvMDmnUHydMpwes8Ov7i0DTHrTO?usp=sharing
Key Facts
- 296km run in a week.
- 48,000 km travelled.
- Coldest race was Antarctica at -15C.
- Hottest race was Fortaleza Brazil at 35C with 80% humidity.
- 65 hours in transit.
- 42,000 calories burned per person in the week (6,000 per day).
- Only 250 people a year go to deep Antarctica (120,000 go to coastal Antarctica).
