American runner runs 7 continents marathon in 7 days
Kilgore, from Florida, was one of 35 runners to complete the World Marathon Challenge on February 6. The event lasted for 7 days, with 7 marathons on 7 continents. This year's tournament takes place in Antarctica, Cape Town (South Africa), Perth (Australia), Dubai (UAE), Madrid (Spain), Fortaleza (Brazil) and Miami (USA).
The tournament has been held since 2015 with a participation fee of 45,000 USD. The track is a closed track and the runner will repeat until 42 km is completed.
Runner born in 1992 improves performance by location. He completed 42 km on the Antarctic airport runway in 3 hours 23 minutes 17 seconds, rising to 2 hours 58 minutes 15 seconds in Cape Town and 2 hours 55 minutes 7 seconds in Perth. In Dubai, Kilgore finished in 2 hours 52 minutes 5 seconds. His record in Madrid, Fortaleza and Miami is 2 hours 44 minutes 27 seconds, 2 hours 55 minutes 59 seconds and 2 hours 41 minutes 50 seconds, respectively.
Kilgore's personal best is 2 hours 27 minutes 59 seconds set at the 2019 New York City Marathon. "Honestly, I feel like I'm getting better every day," says Kilgore. "I'm a bit disappointed in the climate, the roads and the lack of sleep. But it's not something I've never dealt with."
Pit Van Rijswijck of Luxembourg, Paul Box of the US and Andrew Keast of the Cayman Islands finished second, third and fourth respectively. America's Julie Uychiat won first place. Dan Little, an American, 80 years old, breaks his own record as the oldest runner to complete the World Marathon Challenge, which he set four years ago. William Tan, Singapore, was the first wheelchair athlete to complete the challenge.
Mike Wardian, American, champion in 2017 and 2019, holds the tournament record with an average time of 2 hours 45 minutes 57 seconds.
In total, the runners spent 68 hours traveling on the plane. They still had time to shower, change and eat at the hotel before boarding the plane to continue their journey. The flights between the competition points last 8 to 14 hours.
"I'll definitely participate again, or something like that," Kilgore said. "I love the challenge of an event like this, about the connection between the athletes. It's very special. I want to thank everyone who has contributed to making this one-of-a-kind journey, and to the marathon because it's always brutal but satisfying."
And to prove that the World Marathon Challenge wasn't enough, Kilgore boarded a plane the next day to New Zealand to run the 50 km race of the Tarawera Ultramarathon. Here, the American runner finished with a result of 3 hours 44 minutes 3 seconds, ranked 9th overall among 1472 athletes, and 8th among 756 male athletes.
"I feel great," said Kilgore, also known as "Florida Man" on Instagram. "Events like that make me love the sport more. It's a big challenge and I'm not sure about the outcome. But it gives me the feeling of doing what I love with a whole new experience. totally unique".
