This is actually pretty awesome and worthy to spread around. Running 1 marathon is already a challenge in itself, so imagine running a marathon on 7 continents and how amazing is it that Asian Aussie Jeff Tan has done just that. According to Running Magazine, he is the first Asian Aussie to do so.
Tan grew up in Sydney to strict evangelical Singaporean parents, Tan recounts to Running Magazine his childhood which included being bullied and rejected in school. He went through difficult periods of isolation and low self esteem. Here is what he told Running Magazine:
“I wasn’t happy with my life,”
“I recall always being picked last in gym class and thought of myself as someone who is very unathletic.”
It wasn’t till he was 32 that he picked up running and now at 40, Tan has completed the Antarctic Ice Marathon and that makes the 7th continent he has completed a marathon on.
He tackled four more marathons between 2015 and 2018: NYC (2015), Copenhagen (2016), Tokyo (2017) and the Big Five Safari Marathon in South Africa in 2018.
Tan plans to do all the marathons all over again and signed up for the Uluru Marathon in July this year. His memoir “Born Again” will also hit bookstores in 2024.
What an awesome guy!
Images via Running Magazine