SA-born athlete runs 104 marathons in 104 days, set for Guinness World Record

Compiled by Kamva Somdyala

South African-born runner Jacky Hunt-Broersma, who lost her leg to cancer, is now set to be entered into the Guinness World Record books after completing 104 marathons in as many days.

Hunt-Broersma began her challenge in mid-January, running around 42 kilometers a day, according to a report by the BBC.

She currently resides in Arizona, in the United States.

Her 104th marathon was completed this past Saturday and she is currently awaiting certification by the Guinness World Record body, with confirmation likely to come “in around three months”, according to the report.

In 2002, doctors in the Netherlands diagnosed her with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer. Within two weeks, they amputated her left leg to save her life. She was only 26 years old.

She took up running in 2016.

The BBC notes: At the beginning of the year, Hunt-Broersma gave herself a new goal: the record for most consecutive marathons.

The female Guinness record stood at 95 – set two years go by Alyssa Amos Clark, a non-amputee runner from Vermont.

About her marathon runs, Hunt-Broersma said:

Running has made such a difference on my mental state and it showed me how strong my body can be. It gave me a total new acceptance of who I am and that I can do hard things.

She has done the Boston Marathon in Massachusetts and the Lost Dutchman in Arizona, but marathons are not scheduled every day, so she also ran on local dirt paths, neighbourhood trails and even her own treadmill at home.

Hunt-Broersma also documented her running on social media, raising funds along the way.

Her next race will be in Moab, Utah, in October.