Organiser of the cruise marathon challenge, Ziyad Rahim, holds 10 Guinness world-records in long-distance running and is the only athlete to have completed a half marathon, full marathon and ultra-marathon on all seven continents six times.
PHILIPSBURG--Forty-three record-breaking marathon runners from fourteen countries will be disembarking from a cruise ship Monday morning for the third time to take part in the Cruise Marathon Challenge.
St. Maarten hosted the first two editions of the Southern Caribbean Challenge in 2016 and 2017. This time, runners will take part in a unique marathon, running in two countries (St. Maarten and St. Martin) on one island as part of a new cruise adventure dubbed ‘Eastern Caribbean Challenge’.
During the seven-day challenge, runners will have taken part in seven marathons on six Caribbean Islands and one aboard the cruise ship.
This year again, the group includes runners from around the world with exceptional running resumes. Nine of the 12 runners who have completed a marathon in 100+ countries will be part of the challenge. Combined, these runners have completed over 4,000 marathons in 180+ countries around the world.
Founder & CEO of Z Adventures, Ziyad Rahim stated: “We have a star-studded line-up of marathon globetrotters on this trip. The oldest competitor is 81 years young and the field includes 10 World Record holders in various categories. Runners on the trip have run marathons all over the world.
“However, these are all new countries for them, and they are eagerly looking forward to this adventure. We hope local runners will take part as well; as it would be a great experience for them to meet our group.
“All our runners are amateurs. Some are doctors, lawyers, teachers, diplomats and bankers. But we all have one thing in common; the love for travel and running. In short, we are a “United Nations” of runners hopping from island to island, country to country and sharing the tarmac with like-minded people all over the world”.
The Eastern Caribbean Challenge started with a marathon in Guadeloupe on March 8. Runners then boarded the cruise ship Costa Magica to run the second marathon on a 183m running track on the cruise ship while travelling to British Virgin Islands. The marathon entails running 233 rounds of the track; possibly the hardest of the races due to repetition and moving ship.
In the British Virgin Islands on March 10 they will have taken part in the O’Neal Webster Marathon. From there, they arrive in St. Maarten on Monday, March 11, to run the marathon on both sides of the island. The marathon is once again organised by Tri-Sport. The final three races of the challenge will take place in Dominica, St. Vincent and Martinique.
The marathon starts from Port de Plaisance at around 8:00am.
