The 55-year-old ran 15,444 kilometers (9,596 miles) during the year.
Finally standing on the 2024 deadline, Belgian sprinter Hilde Dosogne felt she had done what she needed to claim the world record as the first woman to run the race. marathon every day of the year.
Tired, but apparently exhausted from the constant running, Dosogne emerged from the cold and gray wind to cross as the crowd of fellow runners cheered wildly.
“I'm glad it's over,” he said after crossing the line on Tuesday, leaving behind him a last-ditch crash when he collided with a spectator during his final run.
On top of the reward for her persistence in running 15,444 kilometers (9,596 miles) in one year, the 55-year-old also raised 60,000 euros ($62,438) for breast cancer research.
Now comes the archiving of GPS data, photo and video evidence and independent reports that must be collected daily to meet the requirements of the Guinness World Records organization. If approved, the record must be officially owned within three months.
The 55-year-old will join Hugo Farias, the Brazilian who holds the men's record of 366 days, which he achieved in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 28, 2023.
In the women's category, Dosogne will be in the league alone, as the record held by Australia's Erchana Murray-Bartlett is 150 days.
One thing is certain: he does not want his appearance to be a good example of a healthy lifestyle – his perseverance, because he has to fight the flu, COVID-19, a dozen accidents plus, blisters and bursitis. However, the brain was hit hard.
“Mental stress is more difficult than physical stress. Yes, physically, everything should be fine. Otherwise, you can't run for four hours every day. But it was smart to be there to start every day,” he told the Associated Press.
Dosogne was able to do most of his trips around the water surface, outside the university town of Ghent, where strong winds could be his toughest competition.
Even then, he said, he wouldn't risk anything instead of 42.195km (26.2 miles) per day, he made sure that his speed stopped at 42.5km (26.4 miles) – to be tested properly.
Dosogne wishes he could have extended his days in the same way.
As a bio-engineer at a pharmaceutical company, he started early enough to squeeze in a marathon every afternoon. And because he could not run very fast every day, he ran at a speed of 10km/h (6.2mph) easily, which also helped his friends and witnesses to run.
The only time his daughter Lucie felt she wouldn't make it was the day she collapsed after 27km (16.7 miles), had to go to hospital with a broken finger, and was too late to be allowed to finish. marathon by law. The solution to this problem? “He started again,” Lucie said.
“It's still a little crooked,” Dosogne said.