Women run 106 marathons in 106 days in world record bid

Emma Petrie and Fay Cunningham ran 106 marathons in 106 days

Two women believe they have broken a world record after running 106 marathons in 106 days.

Fay Cunningham and Emma Petrie from Aberdeenshire beat the previous Guinness World Record by 11 marathons.

They completed their final marathon on Saturday, after running their first marathon on 19 February.

Since then they have completed a total of 2,777 miles - the equivalent to running from their home in Aboyne to London more than five times.

In the process, they have also raised £25,000 for charity.

Each has worn out seven pairs of running shoes, and lost 11lbs - despite eating an extra 4,000 calories a day.

Most of the marathons have been on trails and roads close to their home or in wider Royal Deeside.

Their 100th outing was the Edinburgh Marathon last Sunday.

They have run only five marathons on their own, while the other 101 have been completed with friends and a network of social media followers.

Ice baths and massages

After Saturday's run Emma, 26, said: "It's been much more enjoyable than we thought it would be but we are now looking forward to a rest."

Fay, 36, said after about day 15 her body adjusted and since then she has felt good.

The pair adopted a "conservative pace" for each marathon - taking about five hours for each run.

Fay said: "We varied where and when we ran as well, often to take into account the weather. There has been a lot of wind to deal with, as well as rain and even snow.

"Although almost all of the marathons were run quite close to our home because it meant we didn't need to go far to start our recovery routine" - which included a two minute ice bath and massages.

The women will need to await official verification from Guinness World Records, but they are confident they have met the official record criteria for consecutive daily marathons.

Currently American runner Alyssa Clark holds the women's record of 95 marathons, which she completed in 2020.

In fact, Fay and Emma had originally planned to run a total of 100 daily marathons but during the challenge, two other women claimed to have set new world records.

In April, British runner Kate Jayden claimed an unofficial record of 101 marathons in 101 days. Later the same month, South African runner Jacky Hunt-Broersma, who lost a leg to cancer in 2001, ran 104 marathons in 104 days.

Fay said: "We didn't know if the records would be verified officially because some of the marathons run by these women were on treadmills. We believe the record stands only if you run all the marathons outdoors.

"But even so, we decided to ensure we would set a new record by adding six more marathons to get to 106 marathons in 106 days.