Ultrarunner Matthieu Bonne from Bredene (West Flanders) has managed to run over 1,036.8 kilometres in six days, breaking the existing world record. Earlier, at the end of March, Bonne tried to break the record on a running track in Merelbeke (East Flanders) but had to stop after he contracted pneumonia.
Ultrarunner Matthieu Bonne breaks world record: 1,046-kilometre run in 144 hours
Colin Clapson
Published:
Last Thursday, Bonne launched a new attempt at the world ultrarunning championships in Hungary. At noon yesterday afternoon, he finished his run after covering a distance of almost 1046.3 kilometres, more than 9 kilometres more than the previous record, which stood for 20 years.
On Tuesday afternoon, Bonne decided to stop taking breaks for sleep and ran the last 24 hours in one go. Companion Matthias Lievens said: ‘At that point, Matthieu was a little ahead of schedule. He was fully focused and only had one goal in mind. This morning, when he had run 1,000 kilometres by around 6.45am, we were almost sure he was going to succeed. He only had 38 kilometres to go. That seems like a lot, but when you look at the total kilometres, that's not too bad.’
The run took a total of 144 hours, during which he slept four 2.5-hour periods. That accounts for 10 hours in total. ‘I think it’s only today he will get really tired, right now he is still full of adrenaline,’ Matthias said. 'That is in stark contrast to the previous world records Matthieu broke, back then he was often dead tired.’