More than 42 kilometers per marathon, spread over four continents, and that seven times in one year. It sounds like crazy work, but for Eelco de Groot from Assen it is a dream come true. His great passion is running, and now he is going for the ultimate challenge: all seven World Major Marathons run out. “My family also thinks it is a bit crazy. But especially very cool,” laughs De Groot.
He runs the first marathon next Sunday in Tokyo. The Assenaar is looking forward to it enormously. “I will stay a week right away, because I don’t come to Tokyo that often. Then I also want to take something from the culture,” he says enthusiastically.
This is followed by the marathons in Boston, London, Sydney, Berlin, Chicago and New York. This year Sydney was added for the first time to the prestigious World Major Marathons. “It is a very special challenge and purely a personal objective,” says De Groot. “If all of this succeed, then I might go there for nine next year, haha”
His goal? Not necessarily putting down a top time, but all seven marathons successfully run out, and go through firmly. The official limit for a marathon is often around 6 hours, but De Groot runs considerably faster. “My record in the 42 kilometers is around 3 hours,” he says. “Every marathon running a record time is not feasible, but I want to try them all around 3 hours and 15 minutes.”