Steve Edwards – An Ordinary Guy
On
Sunday 11th November 2012, Steve Edwards was crowned 'The Godfather
of marathon running' when he completed the finale of a 24 year journey to
become the first person in the world to run 500 official marathon distance
races all inside 3hrs 30min. This unique achievement earned him a world record
for 'Running 500 marathons in the fastest average finish time', a record which
he has since replicated for both 600 and 700 marathons. However,
with a lifetime total of 756 official marathon races run in an average finish
time of 3hrs 17min (at the time of writing), the 54 year old British runner and
member of the UK 100 marathon club is hoping to establish what many in the
sport consider to be the ultimate record of 1000 marathons whilst maintaining
an average finish time of sub 3:20.
Steve’s running
career started back in 1981 when at the age of 18 he ran his first ever road
race, the inaugural Coventry Marathon. Although vowing ‘never again’, the seed
had been sown. A few years later and realising he was never going to be the
world’s fastest single marathon runner, he embarked on a mission to become one
of the world’s most successful multi marathon runners. His first world record
came in 1990, when aged just 28, he became the youngest person in the world at
the time to run 100 official marathon races. Nearly 18 months later, aged 29,
he passed the 200 marathon landmark, again the youngest athlete at the time to
do so. It was also in 1992 that he broke the world record for running the most
official marathon races in a one year period with a total of 87, smashing the
previous total of 74. Chasing this record took him to 13 countries and his
finish times averaged 3hrs 14min, over an hour quicker than the previous record
holder.
And what about
those stats, marathon running has now taken Steve to
34 countries, not to mention the length and breadth of the UK, from the Isles
of Scilly to the Outer Hebrides, over 60 UK counties all told. He’s averaged 3hrs 12min for his fastest 500 marathons, 3hrs 14min
for his fastest 600 marathons and 3hrs 16min for his fastest 700 marathons, all
of which are world bests. His stats also show that he’s run 316 sub
3:15s, the most by any British athlete and 678 sub 3:30s, the most by anybody
in the world.
“I'm just an
ordinary guy chasing my dreams. The personal achievement feels good, but the
greater reward comes from putting something back and raising money for various
charities over the years. Most of all though, I love inspiring others to
realize that through hard work and dedication, anything is possible.” On top of holding down a
full time job, Steve trains twice most days, every week, every month, every
year - a necessity to keeping himself at the peak of physical fitness such that
he's been able to run a 26.2 mile race on average every 13 days for over 28
years in an average finish time of just over 3¼ hours.
For Steve, the
journey continues, hopefully 800 marathons by October 2017. Beyond that, is 1000
marathons averaging sub 3:20 possible? The dream lives on for now!
Steve’s
biography, ‘The Man Inside The Machine’ is now available.
Please
visit
You can
also follow Steve on Twitter - teamedwars700
- Steve Edwards-
