Described as the "World's Coolest Marathon," the marathon set in the Geographic North Pole has been completed by twenty-two runners from seven countries, with Denmark's Rikke Dam and Shengxian Wang of China taking the win for the women's and men's titles.
Twenty-two runners from seven countries reached the Pole on July 16 aboard the French polar vessel 'Le Commandant Charcot' after departing Longyearbyen, Norway.
Wang won the men's race in 3:52:22, more than 75 minutes slower than his road marathon best of 2:34:00, reflecting the difficulty of running on uneven, snow-covered ice.
Dam took the women's title in 6:54:02. She and her husband also set a Guinness World Records mark for the fastest marathon by a married couple, with a combined time of 12:23:29, pending official confirmation.
Race organisers laid out a 1,055-metre loop on a stable ice floe, guarded by armed polar bear patrols, hours before the start. Runners completed 40 laps of the circuit, wearing life vests and ...
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