Abebe Bikila in Amsterdam – 1968
1 Barefoot Olympic Gold Medalist
Abebe Bikila was an Ethiopian runner that won the 1960 Olympic gold medal in the marathon event in Rome. He ran it barefoot and set a world record time of 2:15:16. He won gold again at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and again set a world record time (this time he wore shoes). He competed in 9 international marathons and won 8 of them. His only non-win was the 1963 Boston Marathon where he finished 5th. He tragically died at the age of 41 from a complication related to a previous automobile accident.
2 First Woman to Run the Boston Marathon
In 1966 a female runner named Bobbi Gibb tried registering for the Boston Marathon but was rejected. She received a letter from the race director that said women were not capable of running a marathon. She decided to sneak into the starting pen. She finished with a time of 3:21:40, which was faster than two-thirds of the other runners.
3 Cheap & Expensive Entry Fees
The Warsaw Marathon in Poland is $60, and the New York City Marathon is $295.
4 Rubber Boots Runner
Peter Butler-Jones ran the 2021 London Marathon in rubber boots. His finishing time was 2:56:38.
5 Consecutive Marathons
Ricardo Abad Martinez is a Spanish runner who ran a marathon for 607 consecutive days, which is a world record. Making the feat even more impressive is the fact that he worked full time in a factory during the streak. His shifts alternated between morning, evening and night and he would sometimes run two marathons in a 12 hour window. They weren’t organized or official marathons, he was running 26.2 miles on his own.
6 Longest 24 Hour Run
Aleksander Soroking set a world record when he ran 198.6 miles in 24 hours. That’s about 7.5 marathons in a row at a speed of 8.25 miles per hour.
7 Fastest Backwards Marathon
In 2004, Chinese runner Xu Zhenjun ran a backwards marathon in 3:43:39. That’s a pace of 8:31 per mile.
8 Race Walker
The fastest walking 50 km (31 miles) race is 3:32:33 by Yohann Diniz of France. At that pace he would have finished a marathon in about 2 hours and 59 minutes.
9 Oldest Runner to Break 3 Hours
70 year old Gene Dykes finished the 2018 Jacksonville Marathon with a time of 2:54:23. That’s a pace of 6:39 per mile.
10 Most Official Marathons in a Year
The most organized or official marathons run in one year is 239, a record held by an American lawyer named Larry Macon. He was 69 years old at the time. He ran his first marathon at the age of 52 and has since completed over 2,000 marathons.
