The Faculty’s Dr Andrew Murray has completed 7 ultra-marathons on 7 continents in 7 days
Congratulations to the Faculty’s Dr Andrew Murray, who today completed his 7 ultramarathons in 7 days challenge. Each ultra-marathon took place on a different continent, beginning in Antarctica and ending in Sydney. As Andrew rightly says, it was a “test of logistics as well as physical endurance”.
In Antarctica Andrew battled extreme sub-zero temperatures and katabatic winds, winning the world’s most southerly marathon, the Antarctic Ice Marathon (pictured) in a new course record time of 3 hours 41 mins, 8 minutes clear of Spaniard Luis Alonso Marcos.
Following this, he ran an additional 50km in Antarctica on the Union Glacier, deep in the interior of the White Continent before flying to Santiago, Chile where he completed 50km in temperatures 50 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous day.
The rest of the challenge saw him running a minimum of 50km in each leg, including North America (Atlanta), before for his European leg running around London, passing the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, and Buckingham Palace along the way.
His African adventure led through the streets of Cairo, and the great pyramids of Egypt, before further runs in Dubai, and Sydney, where he completed the epic challenge, celebrating the finish at the Sydney Opera House, Australia. He ate 7,000 calories per day, travelled over 43,000 kilometres, and managed to find a
shower in every airport.
Andrew donned his trainers in aid of raising funds for the mental health charity SAMH (http://www.samh.org.uk) and increasing awareness of physical activity. He encouraged others to ‘run the world’ with him, by committing to run, walk or swim 5km a day for 50 days.
Andrew tells us:
“While it was incredible seeing the world in fast forward, from running in the glaciers of Antarctica, and past iconic places like the pyramids there were many dramas along the way. Some of the places visited are tricky places to run, industrial action in South America almost cancelled my flights out of Antarctica, every muscle of my body aches, and I only managed 10 and a half hours sleep over the 5 nights.
But increasing physical activity in Scotland and worldwide is the fundamental health challenge of our age, even walking 30 minutes 5 days a week cuts your risk of dying early by 30% so I’m delighted no finish the challenge, and spread the message about the benefits of Physical Activity. I’m nothing special as a runner- I’ve just trained pretty hard”
Andrew’s final ultra-marathon was in Sydney, where he flew his national flag on completion, on St Andrew’s Day no less (pictured).
Congratulations to Andrew from all at the Faculty. To find out more about Andrew’s journey, follow him on Twitter @docandrewmurray, or check out the 5 x 50 Challenge at http://www.5×50.co.uk
