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World Record for Marathons on Seven Continents!

In a third attempt to break the world record for running marathons on all seven continents in the least amount of time, Don Kern, of Grand Rapids Michigan has successfully run marathons on each of the seven continents, finishing on Thursday, 1 December 2011.

During the time from 6 November to 1 December, the following marathons were completed in a span of 25 days, 18 hours, and 10 minutes.  The previous world record was set by Richard Takata in 2007 and was 29 days, 16 hours, and 17 minutes.  

The marathons run in the course of this record were these:

6 November - Soweto Marathon, South Africa

13 November - Maratona Ticino, Switzerland

20 November - Maratona CAIXA de Curitiba Curitiba, Brazil

23 November - Fukuchiyama Marathon , Japan

26 November - Speight's West Coaster, Bethel's Beach, New Zealand

27 November - Space Coast Marathon, Cocoa, Florida, USA

1 December - Antarctic Ice Marathon, Union Glacier Camp, Antarctica

"In my freshman College Prep English class, I ordered a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records.  I always thought I'd be in there someday.  That was over 40 years ago."  

Planning to break this record began in 2006, while already signed up for the 2007 edition of the Antarctica Marathon held on King George Island.  At that time, the world record was a mere 99 days.  The plan was put together to run all seven in 35 days, which Kern successfully ran in February-March 2007, only to find out afterward that Takata had run all seven in just under 30 days.  Later that year, in another attempt to run in 25 days, the Antarctic Ice Marathon trip was delayed by weather for eight days, so while bettering his personal record to just under 33 days, the world record still belonged to Takata.  Still,  2007 it is believed that this was the only time anyone has run marathons on all seven continents twice in the same year.

Background information on Guinness World Record criteria:

Fastest time to complete a marathon on each continent (male).

The current record (current as at the date of this letter) is:
The shortest overall time to complete a marathon on each of the seven continents is 29 days 16 hours 17 minutes by Richard Takata (Canada) from 4 February - 6 March 2007. 

Here's a sample of what Guinness needs:

1. All marathons must be officially organised and well publicised, in other words
must not be organised specifically for the purpose of this attempt.
2. Guinness World Records should be informed of the planned marathons prior to
the attempt.
3. The official race results from each marathon and one independent witness
statement from each race, stating that the participant completed each race,
must be provided. A hyperlink to the official marathon website’s race results will
be accepted as evidence of the official race results. If the official website does
not publish the race results then a letter from the race organisers stating the
participant’s official time is required.
4. The dates, times and location of each marathon must be included in the
documentation submitted for verification.
5. The time begins from the start of the first marathon and the clock does not stop
until the completion of the final one.
6. For the purposes of this record, the continents on which a marathon must be
completed are: North America (the border is at the Panama Canal); South
America; Europe (includes mainland Britain, i.e. England, Scotland and Wales);
Africa; Asia; Australasia and Antarctica.