Two runners from Aberdeenshire have started a bid to run 100 marathons in 100 days. Fay Cunningham and Emma Petrie hope to set a new female world record for running the most consecutive marathons day after day. The current Guinness World record of 95 days was set by Alyssa Clark in 2021.
Fay and Emma, from Aboyne, who run a personal training business Match My Workout together, are also raising funds for two charities close to their hearts, the The Motor Neurone Disease Association and Macmillan Cancer Support. Fay’s dad recently passed away with motor neurones disease, while Emma lost her mum to cancer two years ago.
Fay, 35, said: “Motor neurones is a debilitating disease that stops you doing lots of things and my dad was a big inspiration to me through my life and encouraged me to do sport. He got me into running and I thought that while I still can run, I want to a challenge.”
Emma, 26, added: “My mum obviously had her ability to be active taken away from her. Her memory is a driving force for me.
“Fay and I decided we wanted to test ourselves and push our limits, while also raising money for charity.”
The couple are keen to inspire other people. Fay said: “We are personal trainers. We want to encourage people to get out and do something for themselves, perhaps pushing themselves a bit further.”
100 marathons record bid 2022
Fay and Emma start their 100 marathons record bid today. They will run a marathon each day with the aim of running the 100th as part of the Edinburgh Marathon on May 29.
The marathons will mostly be run locally on a range of different routes, some flatter and some hillier. The couple hope that people will join then on the daily 26.2 miles.
Fay said: “We are aiming for marathons times of around five to six hours. We would normally run sub-four hours but we know that we will need to look after our bodies to be able to continue day after day so we will be taking it steady.
“Recovery will be as important, if not more important, than the ability to keep running. We also hope to run together but we have no way of knowing how we will both cope physically so we will see what happens.
“If people would like to join us to run, we will be very happy to have them along.”
The pair, who also usually work in a cafe, have reduced their workload for 100 days so they can focus on the marathons.
Fay said: “We will still do our on-line coaching and some sessions but the main focus is the marathons. The only way we can do it and serve is to treat it as similar to having a job. Our job each day will be to run 26.2 miles, which is not such abad thing to do really is it?”
They will each need to consume at least 4000 extra calories to fuel the daily marathons. They have a recovery programme of massage, a cold plunge pool and a hot tub that they hope will allow then to stay physically strong.
The pair, who are no strangers to sports challenge such as Ironman, have a goal of raising £100,000 for their two charities. You can donate at Collection Pot and track their progress.
Also keep up to date on social media:
- Instagram: @Match.my.workout
- Facebook and YouTube: @matchmyworkout
I will be posting more about the 100 Marathons in 100 Days challenge. Goos luck to them both.