The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42km 195m, usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held worldwide each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes, as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.
Keepie uppie, keep-ups or kick-ups is the skill of juggling with an association football using feet, lower legs, knees, chest, shoulders, and head, without allowing the ball to hit the ground. It is similar to Kemari, a game formerly practiced in the Japanese imperial court.
Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain.
World records in the marathon are ratified by World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of athletics.
Grete Waitz was a Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder. In 1979, at the New York City Marathon, she became the first woman in history to run the marathon in under two and a half hours. Waitz won nine New York City Marathons, women's division, between 1978 and 1988, the highest number of victories in a single big city marathon in history. She won the silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and a gold medal at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki. She was also a five-time winner of the World Cross Country Championships.
An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of 42.195 kilometres. The sport of running ultramarathons is called ultra running or ultra distance running.
Ashrita Furman is a Guinness World Records record-breaker. As of 2017, Furman has set more than 600 official Guinness Records and currently holds over 200 records, thus holding the Guinness world record for the most Guinness world records. He has been breaking records since 1979.
Eliud Kipchoge is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized in the 5000 metres. Kipchoge is the 2016 and 2020 Olympic marathon champion, and was the world record holder in the marathon from 2018 to 2023, until that record was broken by Kelvin Kiptum at the 2023 Chicago Marathon. Kipchoge has run four of the 10 fastest marathons in history.
Operation V150, where 150 refers to a target speed in metres per second, was a series of high-speed trials carried out on the LGV Est. The V150 was a specially configured TGV high-speed train notable for breaking the world railway speed record on 3 April 2007. The train was built in France and reached a speed of 574.8 kilometres per hour (357.2 mph) on an unopened section of the LGV Est between Strasbourg and Paris, in France topping the previous record of 515.3 kilometres per hour (320.2 mph) set in 1990.
Sivappu Mazhai is a 2010 Tamil action film written and directed by V. Krishnamurthy. Earlier referred to as Guinness Vision, the film was made in 11 days 23 hours 45 minutes, breaking the Guinness World Record. The film features Suresh Joachim and Meera Jasmine while Vivek and Suman play other prominent roles.
Bernadette Benson is a Canadian born athlete specialising in ultra distance events. Among Benson's records are: Australian Open records for 12 hour, 24 hour races where she covered 133.535 km and 238.261 kilometres respectively. She also holds the record for the 100 mile and 200 km distances, at times of 15:24:44 and 19:58:31. In 2016, she set a Guinness World Record for distance covered in twelve hours on a treadmill: 128.62 kilometres.
The fastest known time (FKT) for circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle is awarded for completing a continuous journey around the globe by bicycle and other means, consisting of a minimum 29,000 km in total distance cycled.
Tony Mangan is an ultra distance runner from Ireland. He completed on 27 October 2014 a 50,000 km (31,000 mi) distance running around the world for Aware, a charity helping to defeat depression. He is the current world 48-hour indoor track record holder 426.178 km (264.815 mi). Also the world 48-hour treadmill record 405.22 km. Mangan states, "I didn't start running till I was almost 30. Then I dreamed of running around the World. I got delayed for over 20 years for many reasons, breaking a few world ultra records. Now I am retired from competition I can finally live my dream."
Valmir Nunes is a Brazilian runner. A former world record holder, he currently holds South American and Brazilian Ultramarathon records.
Matthias Kyburz is a Swiss competitor in orienteering and athletics. In orienteering, Kyburz has attained gold medals in the Junior World Orienteering Championships, European Orienteering Championships and the World Orienteering Championships. In athletics, Kyburz is a long-distance specialist; Kyburz attained the world record in 50 km on a treadmill of 2:56:35 on 16 April 2020, breaking a record held by Florian Neuschwander. On 7 April 2024 Kyburz ran 2:07:44 in his Marathon debut, becoming the third fastest Swiss athlete of all time over the distance after Tadesse Abraham and his coach Viktor Röthlin, and achieving the qualifying standard for the 2024 Olympic Games. In the Olympic Marathon, Kyburz finished in 30th place.
Renee Metivier Baillie is an American long-distance runner who competed at multiple IAAF World Cross Country Championships and finished eighth at the 2012 Chicago Marathon.
Amy Hughes is a British marathon runner. In 2014-15, Hughes claimed to have completed 53 marathons in 53 days, after which she claimed to have broken the Guinness World Record. However, her record claim was rejected by the organisation, as their requirements at the time asked for claimants to have run the marathons in official races. In 2017, Hughes claimed to have broken the 7 day treadmill world record, by running 521 miles (838 km) over seven days at the Trafford Centre. Her record claim was rejected as implausible for a non-elite runner, and it also lacked independent verification.
Dan Lawson is a British ultra runner and charity worker from Brighton. Lawson also does charity work in India for OSCAR India and Skillshare International. He holds the course record for the Grand Union Canal Race and in 2016, he won the European 24 Hour Championships, and in 2020 set one of the fastest known times for Land's End to John o' Groats (LEJOG).
Ali Abdo is a sustainability ambassador and environmental activist holding five world records; Ali's activities aim to raise awareness and accelerate the development process by connecting people with development efforts and Initiatives in a unique way.
