At 9 am on Monday, May 6th, 2024, 61-year old Steve Edwards will set off on the finale of his epic journey to create a new Guinness World Record for running 1000 official marathon races in the fastest ever average finish time.
To date, only 50 or so people in the world have completed 1000 marathons – of whom the best average finish time is well over four hours. Steve’s current average time stands at 3hrs 21min 40sec and he has only three more marathons to go to achieve this incredible World Record.
Steve ran his first marathon in 1981 aged 18 and vowed never again. Since then, he has run a competitive marathon race on average every 13 days for the last 36 years. A working, family man, he has trained most days of every week, month after month, year after year spanning 5 decades, achieving many world records and unique landmark achievements along the way. Aside from that he has also raised valuable funds and awareness for Kate’s Home Nursing, a charity based local to him providing special palliative nursing care to terminally ill patients in North Gloucestershire.
Without a single DNF (did not finish) to his name in over 40 years of marathon running, there is little doubt that when Edwards finishes his 1000th marathon in front of a packed MK stadium on the 6th May, he will have achieved a remarkable feat unlikely to be beaten in his lifetime and even perhaps in his grandchildren’s lifetimes.
Only then will the ‘Man Inside The Machine’ look to a more restful life in multi marathon running retirement – and those events of the future will be all the poorer for his absence.