Lauxen vows to re-run seven marathons on seven continents
Record-breaking German achieved feat between March and April
Dubai: After setting a new world record, Dubai-based runner Wendelin Lauxen has vowed to re-run marathons on all seven continents to beat his current record-breaking time.
The 50-year-old German ran six 42km marathons and one 56km run over seven continents between March 9 and April 7, from the Antarctic to Germany, New Zealand, America, Palestine, Chile and South Africa, defying lava flows and blizzards along the way.
He beat Richard Takata's record set in 2007 of 29 days, 16 hours and 17 minutes by one day, seven hours and eight minutes, with the official Guinness World Record time confirmed and presented to him this week as 28 days, 23 hours, 25 minutes and four seconds.
‘New challenge'
But Lauxen will not rest on his laurels, insisting: "It's very possible for someone to break my record, which now only sets a new challenge to myself. I must break this again but in a faster time."
Lauxen's initial plan had been to run the Benguela Weskus Marathon in Langebaan, South Africa on March 17. But, on his way back from Antarctica, he missed a flight from Sao Paulo to Cape Town because authorities there wouldn't let him leave without seeing his original yellow fever vaccination certificate. If he had participated in Langebaan as planned, he would have set the new record at 23 days, shaving six days off the existing mark instead of 12 hours.
Lauxen, who ran 573.5km across the UAE's seven emirates in 81hrs, 53mins last year, said: "I literally burst into tears after missing that race. Of course I am so proud and so delighted to have set a new record without any injuries, but it wasn't the way I had planned it all."
