7 Continents Club
People who choose to run a marathon on all seven continents are generally considered to be a part of the 7 continents club. However, there is some dispute over what counts for each continent, with specific issue being taken due to races being run in "Antarctica" that actually take place on outlying islands of the continent and not within the continent itself.
Due to the extreme weather conditions in Antarctica, not all races are completed as promised. A notable example is 2001, the Antarctica Marathon in Antarctica had to be held on a boat.
Members of The 7 Continents Marathon Club[1]
There are 206 members of the 7 Continents Marathon Club as of February 14, 2017. This list only includes runners who have completed the Antarctica Ice Marathon.
Men Finishers
There are 164 male finishers of the club.
| NAME | COUNTRY | NAME | COUNTRY |
| James Alderson | (AUS) | Ibrar Ali | (GBR) |
| Lee Alexander | (GBR) | Marcelo Alves | (BRA) |
| Anand Anantharaman | (IND) | Sebastian Armenault | (ARG) |
| Stefan Aumann | (GER) | Glen Avery | (USA) |
| Michael Baer | (SUI) | Delbert Baker | (USA) |
| Hassan Baraka | (MOR) | Matthew Barnett | (USA) |
| Brad Beall | (USA) | Steve Birnie | (GBR) |
| Havard Bo | (NOR) | Frank Bollnow | (GER) |
| Harry Botha | (RSA) | Carl Byington | (USA) |
| Patrick Cande | (TAH) | Luiz Candido | (BRA) |
| Doug Carrell | (USA) | Daniel Cartica | (USA) |
| Patrick Charlebois | (CAN) | Penbin Chen | (CHN) |
| Tommy Chen | (TPE) | Krishna Prasad Chigurupati | (IND) |
| Wing Keung Chik | (CHN/HKG) | Clive Choate | (AUS) |
| Howard Choi | (USA) | Mark Collins | (USA) |
| Robert Conway | (USA) | Mark Cooper | (AUS) |
| Chris Cotteleer | (BEL) | Miles Cudmore | (GBR) |
| Mirek Cydzik | (POL) | Henri Alain d'Andria | (FRA) |
| James Danaher | (GBR) | Christoph Dankert | (GER) |
| Matt Dean | (AUS) | Aydin Demirchi | (AZE) |
| Gafar Demirchi | (AZE) | Richard Donovan | (IRL) |
| Dave Dudek | (USA) | Duc Do | (AUS/VIE) |
| Timothy Durbin | (USA) | Duncan Erasmus | (NZL) |
| Patrick Fallon | (USA) | John Fang | (TWN) |
| Winston Fisher | (USA) | Jacques Fox | (LUX) |
| Mauro Garza | (USA) | David Gething | (HKG) |
| Graham Gillespie | (AUS) | Henri Girault | (FRA) |
| Fernando Gonzalez | (ESP) | Evgeniy Gorkov | (RUS) |
| Paul Grealish | (IRL) | Griff Griffith | (USA) |
| Glenn Grossman | (USA) | Javier Castro Guinea | (ESP) |
| Ryan Hall | (USA) | Zhu Han | (CHN) |
| Tim Harris | (GBR) | Stephen Hearn | (GBR) |
| Marten Hellman | (FIN) | Angelo Henry | (RSA) |
| Michael Heyl | (USA) | Steve Hibbs | (USA) |
| Nicholas Horsfall | (GBR) | Jon Howard | (GBR) |
| Mohan Iyer | (USA) | Ted Jackson | (GBR) |
| Peter Jensen | (DEN) | René Gross Kærskov | (DEN) |
| Bill Karz | (USA) | Mikio Kawamoto | (JPN) |
| Don Kern | (USA) | Alex Kemp | (GBR) |
| Chik Wing Keung | (CHN/HKG) | Travis Kiefer | (USA) |
| MJ Kim | (KOR/USA) | John Kraus | (USA) |
| Jesper Floyd Kristiansen | (DEN) | Maciej Kurzajewski | (POL) |
| Nick Lagen | (USA) | Brian Larson | (USA) |
| Wendelin Lauxen | (GER) | Christophe Lebrun | (FRA) |
| Xiaobai Li | (CHN) | Xibei Li | (CHN) |
| Joseph Lim | (USA) | Steve Lo | (HKG) |
| James Love | (GBR) | Masao Maki | (JPN) |
| Yusuke Mamada | (JPN) | Gregory McCarthy | (USA) |
| Allim Milazi | (RSA) | Tristan Miller | (AUS) |
| Ray Miller | (USA) | Martin Molsater | (NOR) |
| Andrew Murray | (GBR) | Sandy Naidu | (IND) |
| Patrick Ngan | (CHN/HKG) | ||
| George Nichols | (USA) | Seow Kong Ng | (MAS) |
| Arnold Oliphant | (USA) | Boon Ong | (SIN) |
| Phing Ong | (SIN) | Gavin Opperman | (RSA) |
| John O'Regan | (IRL) | Jon O'Shea | (GBR) |
| Daniel Palko | (SVK) | Raj Patel | (GBR/IND) |
| Rajesh Patel | (USA) | Samir Patel | (USA) |
| Anders Pettersson | (BRA/SWE) | Stephen Pienaar | (RSA) |
| Rob Plijnaar | (NED) | Rafael Munar Pons | (ESP) |
| Xiaobin Qiu | (CHN) | Jaroslaw Rajtar | (POL) |
| Calum Ramm | (USA) | Michel Robitaille | (CAN) |
| Jeff Rosen | (CAN) | Andrei Rosu | (ROM) |
| Joel Runyon | (USA) | Hideaki Sakata | (JPN) |
| Rodney Sargeant | (AUS) | Markus Schramm | (GER) |
| Jurgen Schuster | (GER) | Steven Seaton | (GBR) |
| Chris Seymour | (AUS/USA) | Cristian Sieveking | (CHL) |
| Ladislav Simek | (CZE) | Jagjit Singh | (GBR) |
| Xian Song | (CHN) | Neil Standring | (GBR) |
| Vlado Staresinic | (CRO) | Martin Steer | (GBR) |
| Willy Steinskog | (NOR) | Greg Swan | (AUS) |
| Krzysztof Szachna | (POL) | Ireneusz Szpot | (POL) |
| William Tan | (SIN) | Alexander Tauchhammer | (AUT) |
| Stephan Thodesen | (NOR) | William Thomas | (USA) |
| Mark Tointon | (GBR) | Petr Vabrousek | (CZE) |
| Pascal Vinarnic | (GBR) | Gary van Vuuren | (ZIM) |
| Patrick Waller | (GBR) | Michael Wardian | (USA) |
| Paul Webb | (GBR) | David Weeds | (GBR) |
| Robert Weeks | (USA) | Friedhelm Weidemann | (GER) |
| Brent Weigner | (USA) | Doug White | (USA) |
| Luke Wigman | (GBR) | Douglas Wilson | (AUS) |
| Pierre Wolkonsky | (FRA) | Eric Yuesheng Xin | (CHN/HKG) |
| Nick Zafer | (AUS) | Bartlomiej Zajac | (POL) |
Women Finishers
There are 43 female members of the club.
| NAME | COUNTRY | NAME | COUNTRY |
| Georgina Acons | (GBR) | Demelza Alderson | (AUS/GBR) |
| Sarah Ames | (GER) | Norma Bastidas | (CAN/MEX) |
| Amanda Barlow | (AUS) | Silvana Camelio | (CHL) |
| Pushpa Chandra | (CAN) | Carol Chang | (USA) |
| Yvonne Elizabeth Chee | (SIN) | Uma Devi Chigurupati | (IND) |
| Angela Chong | (SIN) | Janet Cody | (USA) |
| Maria Correia | (BRA) | Eleanor Dorran | (IRL) |
| Rebecca Frechette | (USA) | Lise Grønskar | (NOR) |
| Heather Hawkins | (AUS) | Nahila Hernandez | (CUB/MEX) |
| Sinead Kane | (IRL) | Gloria Lau | (SIN) |
| Celene Loo | (SIN) | Adjoa Mantey | (USA) |
| Stevie Matthews | (GBR) | Agata Mikolajczyk | (POL) |
| Fiona Oakes | (GBR) | Sarah Oliphant | (USA) |
| GiGi Van Ostrand | (USA) | Stefanie Pettersson | (BRA/SWE) |
| Eleanor Pienaar | (RSA) | Becca Pizzi | (USA) |
| Judy Scrine | (GBR) | Noelle Sheridan | (USA) |
| Signe Simonsen | (DEN) | Sasie Smittipatana | (THA) |
| Sarah Steer | (GBR) | Catherine Yanfeng Sun | (CHN/HKG) |
| BethAnn Telford | (USA) | Shona Douglas Thomson | (GBR) |
| Richelle Turner | (AUS) | Charlotte Waller | (GBR) |
| Dawn Estelle | (USA) | Winter Vinecki | (USA) |
| Guoping Xie | (CHN) | Marianna Zaikova | (FIN) |
| Blanca Ramirez | (USA) |
7 Continents Ultra Club
An even smaller list of competitors have finished an ultra marathon (50k or more) on all 7 continents.[2]
- Richard Donovan (Ireland)
- Fernando Gonzalez, 2017 (Spain)
- Nahila Hernandez, 2017 (Cuba/Mexico)[3]
- Andrew Murray, 2012 (Scotland)[4]
- Joel Runyon, 2017 (USA)
The Intercontinental Marathon Club
The Intercontinental Marathon Club is composed of athletes who have run 7 Marathons on 7 Continents within 7 Days.[5] This name is organized by Richard Donovan who also organizes The 7 Continents Marathon Club. There are 26 members of this club as of December 1, 2016.
Disputes over "7 Continents" Name
Because of the differing opinions on what constitutes a marathon in Antarctica, there are several companies and races that lay claim to the "7 continents" name. They also all run their own independent races in Antarctica and dispute over what races actually take place on the continent.
The 7 Continents Marathon Club[6]
This club organized by Richard Donovan explicitly excludes races taking place on outlying islands:
6. For the avoidance of doubt, the South Shetland Islands, including its northernmost King George Island, and the Falkland Islands are not considered part of the continent of Antarctica. These islands are not located within the Antarctic Circle, they are not located on Antarctica's continental landmass, and they are not part of the Antarctica Tectonic Plate or geographic continental shelf. The South Shetland Islands are specifically located on the Shetland Plate while the Falklands are on the South America Plate. Both sets of islands also share a distinctly more moderate set of climatic conditions that sets them apart from the continent of Antarctica.[6]
The Seven Continents Club
This is run by Marathon Tours and is a paid membership.[7] They currently list 500 people that have completed the feat. This is the original "Seven Continents" club.
The Official 7 Continents Marathon, Half-Marathon & Ultra Club
This is run by a non-profit club.[8] The club's charter is to compile the first comprehensive list of all runners who have completed marathons, half-marathons and/or ultra marathons on all 7 continents. The club does not exclude runners. They currently list 135 people that have finished the marathon distance.
Litigation
In 2014, Marathon Tours filed a UDRP against "The Official 7 Continents Marathon Club" alleging confusion over the official7continentsmarathonclub.com domain name. The court dismissed Marathon Tours' claim as the domain was not found to be used in "bad faith." In fact, the court went to the extreme measure of highlighting how Marathon Tours' complaint failed to meet all three prongs of the required legal standard, when failing to meet only one prong will result in dismissal.[9]"
There is ongoing contention between the race operators to what is considered "Antarctica" and by extension the "7 continents club."[10] However, scientific research shows that King George Island was once physically attached to the Antarctic Peninsula and that the so-called Shetland Plate is actually a fragment of the Antarctic Tectonic Plate that broke off as a result of tectonic and magmatic processes. Further, The Antarctic Treaty System clearly classifies the South Shetland Islands as part of Antarctica.
Similar Challenges
References
- "Antarctic Ice Marathon The 7 Continents Marathon Club". icemarathon.com. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- "7 Ultras Club". 7 Ultras Club. Retrieved 2017-07-14.
- "Nahila Hernandez also set a new world... - World Marathon Challenge | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- "Dr Andrew Murray completes ultra marathons challenge early". BBC News. 2012-11-30. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- "World Marathon Challenge". World Marathon Challenge. Retrieved 2017-02-06.
- "World Marathon Challenge". World Marathon Challenge. Archived from the original on 2017-01-29. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- "Seven Continents Club - Marathon Tours and Travel". www.marathontours.com. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- "The Official 7 Continents Marathon, 1/2 Marathon & Ultra Club, Inc. - Home". www.official7continentsmarathonclub.com. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- Center, Arbitration and Mediation. "WIPO Domain Name Decision: D2014-0603". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- "Cracking the Seven Continents Club". Stuff. Retrieved 2017-02-05.