Sri Lankan marathoner, Hassan Esufally, is on a mission to become the first Sri Lankan to gain membership of the prestigious 7 Continents Marathon Club.
During a media conference held at the Sports Ministry premises today (28th), where Hon. Minister of Sports, Dayasiri Jayasekara, attended as the Guest of Honour, Esufally briefed the media on his ambitious endeavor which will require him to complete some of the world’s most iconic and toughest Marathons in order to earn the prestigious membership at the 7 Continents Marathon Club.
The 7 continents Marathon Club is an exclusive club of elite marathon runners who have completed some of the most grueling marathons in the world. At present there are only 271 members worldwide which include 212 male and 59 female members. The Club is exclusive and reserved for athletes who are carefully vetted to prove that they have run a marathon within the Antarctic Circle, on the Antarctica Continent, as well as on the other six continents.
Esufally is no stranger to difficult challenges, having successfully completed the Ironman 140.6 Asia Pacific Championship in Cairns, Australia in 2016. He claims that running past the finish line draped in the Sri Lankan flag inspired him to keep pushing the boundaries and made him set his sights on becoming the first Sri Lankan to gain membership of the exclusive 7 Continents Marathon Club.
A full marathon is usually 42.2km but each continent presents its own unique challenges and extreme conditions. Esufally has already completed marathons in the continents of Europe (Stockholm marathon in June 2017), Asia (LSR Colombo Marathon in October 2017) and Australia (Melbourne Marathon in 2014 and 2016) and this year plans on completing the daunting task of completing the other four continents in the world.
In April he will compete in the Boston Marathon in the USA, the world’s oldest marathon event and one of the most prestigious races in the world. In June, he will compete on the African continent, running in the Big Five Marathon in South Africa, where he will race on tracks in the African Savannah, among wild animals and running through the natural habitat of Africa’s “Big 5” Species; Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Lion and Leopard.
In August 2018, Esufally plans on competing in South America, where he will participate in the INCA Trail Marathon which is considered the most challenging and difficult marathon in the world, because it takes runners through rocky mountain terrain at altitudes ranging from 800m above sea level to nearly 14000m above sea level. The INCA trial Marathon follows the original pilgrimage trial that leads to Machu Picchu, the religious capital of the Inca Empire.
The final test of Esufally’s journey in completing marathons in all seven continents of the world will take place in December this year when he competes in the 14th Antarctic Ice Marathon in Antarctica, which takes place 80 degrees south, just a few hundred miles from the South Pole. Esufally believes that this will be the toughest challenge of them all as he will be presented with formidable weather and running conditions. The underfoot conditions throughout the course will be snow with an average wind chill temperature of -20 Celsius. The organizers only allow 50 entries a year and Esufally has managed to qualify through the rigorous vetting process.
As if the challenge of competing all four marathons within a year was not enough, Esufally needs to make sure he completes each of them within a stipulated time limit to be able to gain membership of the elite club. At the Boston Marathon, he will have to complete the marathon in 6 hours, in Africa it will be 7 hours while in South America it will be 13 hours. In the final marathon in Antarctic he will have to complete the race within 10 hours which will be a real challenge.
Esufally is determined to usher in a culture and encourage others to take up Marathoning. He stated that “My aim is to bring pride to Sri Lanka, to popularize adventure marathons and hopefully to inspire others also to attempt these formidable goals. We maybe a small nation, but we have immense potential for sports and adventure and we need to keep pushing ourselves to achieve bigger and greater sporting goals”
It is a phenomenal feat that is being attempted by the ambitious young marathoner who will not only look to put Sri Lanka on the map but will also look to inspire the young Sri Lankans who would be interested in taking up the sport. ThePapare.com wishes Hassan Esufally all the very best and are looking forward to reporting his progress when he tackles some of the world’s rigorous and most iconic marathons.
