Amputee sets unofficial world record with 102 marathons in 102 days

Amputee athlete Jacky Hunt-Broersma has achieved her goal of running 102 marathons in as many days, setting an unofficial women’s world record.

And she said she will run two more for good measure and wrap up her challenge with 104.

“I might as well end April with a marathon,” she told the Associated Press.

“I’m just happy that I made it – I can’t believe it.

“The best thing was the incredible support I’ve received from people around the world who’ve reached out, telling me how this has inspired them to push themselves.”

Ms Hunt-Broersma, 46, began her quest on January 17, covering the classic 26.2-mile marathon distance on a loop course laid out near her home in Gilbert, Arizona, or on a treadmill indoors.

Since then, it has been “rinse and repeat” every day for the South Africa native, who lost her left leg below the knee to a rare cancer and runs on a carbon-fibre prosthesis.

Her original goal was to run 100 marathons in 100 days so she would beat the record of 95 set in 2020 by Alyssa Amos Clark, a non-disabled runner from Bennington, Vermont, who took it on as a pandemic coping strategy.

But earlier this month, after British runner Kate Jayden unofficially broke Ms Clark’s record with 101 marathons in 101 days, Ms Hunt-Broersma realised she would need to run at least 102.

On foot, day in and day out, she has covered 2,672 miles – the equivalent of running from her Phoenix suburb to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, or from New York City to Mexico City.

Along the way, she gained a huge social media following and raised nearly 27,000 dollars to help fellow amputee blade runners get the expensive prostheses they need.

Ms Hunt-Broersma, who ran her 92nd at this month’s Boston Marathon, hopes her quest will inspire people everywhere to push themselves to do hard things.

Guinness World Records lists the men’s record for consecutive daily marathons as 59, set in 2019 by Enzo Caporaso of Italy.