“RUNNING a marathon is tough, but doing it 1,120 metres below sea level, in total silence and darkness, will push participants to their limits.”
Bear Grylls has made the impossible seem possible on countless occasions, but his latest project goes to depths nobody has ever been before.
Bear Grylls is co-founder of event organisers BecomingX[/caption]
One month today, 60 amateur runners from across the world will participate in a world first – running a marathon 1,120metres below sea level in the World’s Deepest Marathon.
At four times the depth of the Eiffel Tower and deeper than the bottom of the North Sea, one of Europe‘s deepest mines – Boliden’s Garpenberg zinc mine in Sweden – will put athletes to the test like never before.
No marathon in history has ever been run this far underground.
With temperatures set to reach up to 28°C and NO natural light, participants will run 18 lengths of a 2.4km long tunnel in total silence and darkness.
The event aims to break two Guinness World Records and raise more than £1million for charity in the process.
Alongside Bear Grylls, Paul Gurney is the co-founder of BecomingX, the organisation behind this record-breaking feat.
Speaking exclusively to SunSport, Paul said: “Imagine running on a treadmill in the dark with a head torch, and turn up the temperature.
“This is mentally one of the toughest things that people will do. Running a marathon is hard, of course.
“Running it underground where it’s hot and humid, that’s a lot harder. But the real challenge here is the logistics behind safely running a marathon this deep.”
Underground marathons are nothing new, with 100 Brits running 91 laps of a World War Two bunker in Portsmouth last year.
But Garpenberg is a whole different ball game.
It is one of the most advanced mines in the world, extracting some 3.5 million tonnes of ores containing zinc, lead, silver and gold each year.
Steeped in history, records show mining has been conducted on the site since way back in 350 BC.
Situated nearly 200km north west of Stockholm, the 60 participants will descend most of the way underground in a lift, before jumping into a fleet of 4x4s and small buses to go down a further 400 metres.
Paul’s training regime has been an intriguing one to say the least – including an hour running in a heat chamber at Precision Fuel & Hydration’s HQ in the New Forest and the small matter of a week spent climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
The event, however, is about far more than just running a marathon.
Paul said: “BecomingX is all about showcasing the incredible capacity of humans to do extraordinary things, and we really want to help people to understand that they can do extraordinary things.
“A lot of the people running in this have never done a marathon before, but they’re going to become world record holders.”
Upon launching the event, Paul was inundated with “literally hundreds” of people wanting to take part, with each hoping to raise $30,000 for selected charities.
Among the participants are Toni-Ivana Awofeso and Claire-Marie Rozario from wellness movement Alpine Run Project – founded by ex-convict turned Ironman John McAvoy – that helps young people from inner cities across the UK embrace the outdoors (or in this case, the underground).
Toni only ran her first 5km earlier this year, while Claire is still relatively new to the sport herself.
They’re both fearful of the mental resilience needed to keep going in such an extreme environment.
Claire, 23, told SunSport: “I think running [a marathon] on a treadmill would be easier than this.
“Because we’re doing laps and passing the start, it’s going to get more and more difficult as you’re going through.
“We’ll be, maybe, 30km through and stopping to have a drink, you’re just going to be thinking ‘I want to stop now’, not go again for another 12km.”
Bear echoed Claire’s fears: “This will be a true test of mental and physical resilience.
“This is about more than breaking records – it’s about proving what’s possible when we dare to push beyond our perceived boundaries and into the unknown.”
