“My knees are completely worn out”
German runs 14 marathons – in a row
May 11, 2026 – 1:05 a.mReading time: 3 minutes
When extreme athlete Arda Saatçi arrives in Los Angeles, he can hardly speak. He ran an incredible 600 kilometers in one go – but the German missed one goal.
His nickname was omnipresent on the way from Badwater to the City of Angels: “Cyborg.” In fact, Berliner Arda Saatçi managed to run more than 600 kilometers in one go on Sunday. From the hot Death Valley in the California desert to the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles. An almost superhuman achievement.
In the end, it took more than five days: On Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. (local time), the 28-year-old finally reached the Santa Monica Pier near Los Angeles – after being on his feet for 123 hours and 21 minutes. In his attempt to cover the enormous distance in one go, Saatçi only took short breaks of 30 to 90 minutes in which he slept briefly. The extreme athlete still missed his ambitious goal of covering 600 kilometers in just 96 hours during the race in the USA.
Saatçi had to visibly pay tribute to the hardships. If his heart rate rose, he would walk at walking pace for a few minutes before starting to run faster again. Shortly before the finish, the runner ran at an impressive speed of around six minutes per kilometer. His average speed at the end was more than 12 minutes per kilometer.
At the end of the 96 hours on Saturday – in which he had covered a good 458 kilometers – he was disappointed and at the same time combative: As he walked, he announced that he would finish the job, no matter how. His mother was waiting for him at the finish, he said. He promised her that he would go out for ice cream with her on Mother’s Day. “I’ll keep that promise too.” As shown in the livestream of his sponsor Red Bull, the route ended up being 604.5 kilometers long due to detours. In total he completed 14 marathons in five days.
Hundreds of thousands of people watched the 28-year-old’s run live via stream. They cheered him on online and rooted for the athlete. The extreme athlete is followed by around 1.5 million people on YouTube alone and he has around two million followers on Instagram. According to the sponsor Red Bull, two million people tuned in to the live stream.
