5 down, 2 to go

John Moore said:

Mad explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has completed his 5th marathon in 5 days in 5 continents:

Quoted message said:

news.bbc.co.uk3229737.stmOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

I never thought he'd make it this far.

Quoted message said:

J.

---Well, he's not going to get 7 continents though. Maybe it was the fault of weather, but the
Falkland Islands are NOT part of Antarctica. Andy Hass

John Moore said:

Mad explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has completed his 5th marathon in 5 days in 5 continents:

Wrong! He may have completed his 5th 26.2M run but he certainly hasn't done 5 marathons. A marathon
is defined as a race. What he is doing are no more than "training" runs. And while I envy his
financial resources to undertake this stunt, running 26.2M for 7 consecutive days is no big deal.
There are MANY folks who have run much further per day for many more consecutive days (see Sri
Chinmoy 3100 Mile Race for just a few examples).
--
- The Trailrunner

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John Moore said:

Mad explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has completed his 5th marathon in 5 days in 5 continents:

news.bbc.co.uk3229737.stmOpen ↗

I never thought he'd make it this far.

Could all the twits in this thread who are criticising the man please go out, have a double bypass,
then go run 7 x 26.2 mile runs in consecutive days before they even think of coming back here and
play smart-assed little nit-picking [censored].

I know I'm being rude but I've had enough of all your silly whining for one day.

7 in 7 days? Let's see, when I do the math......Yep, that's 49 times more uninteresting than usual.

Quoted message said:

---Well, he's not going to get 7 continents though. Maybe it was the fault of weather, but the
Falkland Islands are NOT part of Antarctica.

Yes, you're right. He's cheated and made the whole thing an absolute stroll in the park for himself
and Mike Stroud. Anybody could do it, if it's just six continents plus a set of remote islands we're
talking about.

J.

The Trailrunner said:

Wrong! He may have completed his 5th 26.2M run but he certainly hasn't done 5 marathons. A marathon
is defined as a race.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I've heard this before. I think it's pedantic and irrelevant in this context.

Quoted message said:

What he is doing are no more than "training" runs. And while I envy his financial resources to
undertake this stunt, running 26.2M for 7 consecutive days is no big deal. There are MANY folks who
have run much further per day for many more consecutive days (see Sri Chinmoy 3100 Mile Race for
just a few examples).

The guy is 59 and has recently had heart surgery. He is also doing it under the influence of acute
jet lag, having jetted to a different continent (OK, apart from the Falklands) after each race. As
regards his financial resources for his 'stunt', he is doing it for charity, and will raise a six
figure sum if he succeeds. Personally, I think he's a nutcase, but I think anyone who plays down his
achievement, if he succeeds (and even if he stops afer 5), is very mean-spirited indeed.

John

The Trailrunner <[email hidden]> wrote: ...

Quoted message said:

There are MANY folks who have run much further per day for many more consecutive days (see Sri
Chinmoy 3100 Mile Race for just a few examples).

...

just because there are some others who have done more than this guy has, it doesn't mean that this
guy's achievement is any less. for one, the chinmoy race does not offer jet-lag. also consider the
weather/climate changes in doing a "marathon" on different continents. he's going to be experiencing
winter in london and summer in sydney.

i checked the sri chinmoy site. looks like there there were only 7 participants. it would be
interesting to know what their mile paces were. the winner finished in just under 50 days which is
about 60 miles a day. if he used 16 hours a day, that gives him about a 16 minute mile pace.

jobs

The Trailrunner said:

Wrong! He may have completed his 5th 26.2M run but he certainly hasn't done 5 marathons.

In article <[email hidden]>, The Trailrunner

Quoted message said:

John Moore said:

Mad explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has completed his 5th marathon in 5 days in 5 continents:

Wrong! He may have completed his 5th 26.2M run but he certainly hasn't done 5 marathons. A
marathon is defined as a race. What he is doing are no more than "training" runs. And while I envy
his financial resources to undertake this stunt, running 26.2M for 7 consecutive days is no big
deal. There are MANY folks who have run much further per day for many more consecutive days (see
Sri Chinmoy 3100 Mile Race for just a few examples).

So if there was ONE other person to run each 26.2-mile run, and they gave a medal to the winner,
then it would be a race and then it would be 7 Marathons in 7 days? Even if he ran the same times as
he's doing now?

Why the HELL should that make a difference?

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Then it was every other day. . . ."

- Homer J. Simpson

steve common said:

Could all the twits in this thread who are criticising the man please go out, have a double
bypass, then go run 7 x 26.2 mile runs in consecutive days before they even think of coming back
here and play smart-assed little nit-picking [censored].

I'm about his age, had heart surgery myself this spring and am now doing ultras. I'm not diminishing
what he's overcome or the cause he's doing it for, but it is a publicity stunt designed to raise
money and he is NOT running 7 MARATHONS in 7 days.

--
- The Trailrunner

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"John Moore" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Yes, you're right. He's cheated and made the whole thing an absolute stroll in the park for
himself and Mike Stroud. Anybody could do it, if it's just six continents plus a set of remote
islands we're talking about.

Go easy. Andy is nursing a *very* bruised ego.

Roger.

John Moore said:

Anybody could do it, if it's just six continents plus a set of remote islands we're talking about.

can you?

I read on the BBC that he "completed the London marathon" yesterday. Let's hope that the entire
field doesn't head for the BBC television centre next April after starting in Windsor by mistake. J
"John Moore" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

---Well, he's not going to get 7 continents though. Maybe it was the

fault

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

of weather, but the Falkland Islands are NOT part of Antarctica.

Yes, you're right. He's cheated and made the whole thing an absolute stroll in the park for
himself and Mike Stroud. Anybody could do it, if it's just six continents plus a set of remote
islands we're talking about.

J.

John Moore <[email hidden]> wrote: ....

Quoted message said:

The guy is 59 and has recently had heart surgery.

.....

i guess once you hit that age, lots of people do lots of amazing things. check out this 61 year old
who backpacked the 211 mile john muir trail in 5 days and 10 hours. 50,000 feet of elevation change
and a 22 pound backpack. his inspiration? some british royal marines.

signonsandiego.com20030929 9999 mz1s29outdor.htmlOpen ↗

jobs

John, The 7/7/7 idea is neat, but given the general public's ignorance of how long a marathon is
(many think that 5k's are marathons), the belief by some runners that marathons have become a
circus, perhaps they should have billed it as 7 runs of 26.2 miles (or select an arbitrary distance)
run on 7 continents in 7 days for 183.4 miles or whatever. On average, my car only gets driven half
that distance in that time period.

It's unfortunate they had bad weather and couldn't get to Antarctica, but not surprising. But the
logistics of doing it on 7 continents was a (the?) significant challenge here. As others have said,
there's many people (not 59 recovering from heart surgery) that run that much in races in one
location. It's always been the logistics, in my mind, of getting to the 7 locations as to whether he
could pull it off.

BUT he is not "many" people. He is a 59 yo with recent heart surgery, so that definitely ups the
challenge level, IMHO. While he didn't do as planned, I think it's a great effort and a worthy
cause. Since the NYCM is the only one that is an actual race, he might have been better off waiting
for decent weather in Antarctica, then starting his clock from there, but it may not have had the
pulicity appeal. Logistics and bad weather are always an issue in my field seasons, so I'm
definitely sympathetic to what he's attempting and the challenges.

But yea, these alternatives definitely wouldn't have had the 7/7/7 ring to it. I sincerely hope he
makes it for his charity causes!

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

John Moore <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

---Well, he's not going to get 7 continents though. Maybe it was the fault of weather, but the
Falkland Islands are NOT part of Antarctica.

Yes, you're right. He's cheated and made the whole thing an absolute stroll in the park for
himself and Mike Stroud. Anybody could do it, if it's just six continents plus a set of remote
islands we're talking about.

Is this really such a compelling story? Isn't it just another publicity stunt. In the marathons that
I've done the competitors can't change the rules as they go. "I think I'll skip this hill and go
around but it still will be 26 miles". I guess the problem is that this really isn't a competition
is it, no one to beat, no one to loose to, no rules that can't be changed. At least it is done in
the name of charity other than that it is a farce. Will there be a book?

Steve W.

Harold Buck said:

So if there was ONE other person to run each 26.2-mile run, and they gave a medal to the winner,
then it would be a race and then it would be 7 Marathons in 7 days? Even if he ran the same times
as he's doing now?

Why the HELL should that make a difference?

There are folks who claim all kinds of running records and still others who take those records very
seriously. For example there's the 50 States Marathon Club where one runs a marathon in all 50
states. It is recognized that one can't do a 26.2M run by themselves in say N. Dakota and call that
a marathon, but rather that it has to be an organized marathon. There is another group that has run
an (organized) race every week for years. For someone to come along and claim they ran a "marathon"
on every continent in a week makes a mockery of all the legitimate *streak* runners who actually did
what they claim to have done.
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- The Trailrunner

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The Trailrunner said:

I'm about his age, had heart surgery myself this spring and am now doing ultras. I'm not
diminishing what he's overcome or the cause he's doing it for, but it is a publicity stunt designed
to raise money and he is NOT running 7 MARATHONS in 7 days.

Excellent! So you're in a perfect position to prove to us all how easy what he's doing is by doing
something similar yourself - perhaps making things a little harder, just to avoid boredom? I look
forward to reading your report.

J.

The Trailrunner said:

and he is NOT running 7 MARATHONS in 7 days.

But that's what's annoying me: your words " A marathon is defined as a race. "

[censored]. That is the one of 2 possible meanings which you have chosen because it's in your runner's
jargon. Webster's says:

Quoted message said:

Main Entry: mar·a·thon Pronunciation: 'mar-&-"thän Function: noun Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Marathon, Greece, site of a victory of Greeks over Persians in 490 B.C., the news of
which was carried to Athens by a long-distance runner

Date: 1896
1 : a long-distance race: a : a footrace run on an open course usually of 26 miles 385 yards
(42.2 kilometers) b : a race other than a footrace marked especially by great length

2 a : an endurance contest b : something (as an event, activity, or session) characterized by
great length or concentrated effort

Look at that number 2 b something (as an event, activity, or session) characterized by great length
or concentrated effort

So he has done 7 marathons. Period. The rest is just misplaced snobbery. Note that there is *no
documentary evidence whatsoever* of a messenger running from Marathon to Athens; the term was coined
for the first modern games by Pierre de Coubertin, based on the documented run from Athens to Sparta
by a messenger (hence the Spartathlon race)