World Record set for crossing Ireland on foot

Mimi Anderson, the 50-year-old running phenomenon and grandmother from Smarden in Kent, has successfully completed her third long distance running World Record attempt.

Mimi is a already a double official Guinness World Record Holder, for the furthest distance covered on a treadmill in 7 days by a female (403.81 miles – and done with a broken toe!) and the record for the fastest time by a female for running from John O’Groats to Lands End  (840 miles in 12 days, 15 hours, 46 minutes)

Setting off with an officially recorded start time of 06:01 on 22nd September 2012 from Malin Head (the most northerly point in Ireland) her aim was to beat the current fastest crossing of Ireland on foot by a female. 3 days 15 hours 36 minutes and 23 seconds later, with an official finish time 21:37:23 on 25th September, she arrived at Mizen head (the most southerly point), to knock a whopping 10 hours and 3minutes of the previous record for the 345 miles.

For those of us who recognise the athletic performance that lay behind this outstanding performance, the impressive statistics for the run include the first marathon (26 miles) completed in 3 hours 46 minutes, 50 miles in 7:46 and 100 miles 17:33, with 118.67 miles covered in the first 24 hours. 150 miles was reached in 31:26, half way just over 36 hours and she went through the 200 mile point in just over 44 hours. In all, over the 87 hours that it took to break a World Record, she managed on just a total of 5 hours sleep!

Paying tribute to her crew of three – friends Becky Healey and Katherine Hay Heddle, and husband Tim Anderson – she acknowledges that this would just not have been possible without their constant supply of food and drink to meet her needs on the road whilst also ensuring the detailed accurate records were kept for her to officially claim the new World Record.

Mimi was running as usual for her favourite charity to raise money for the 10 Million Metres Campaign, which was set up by Alex Flynn when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 4 years ago.  He has pledged to run, walk, swim, bike and if necessary crawl 10 Million Metres to raise £1 million pounds for The Cure Parkinson’s Trust.  People can donate to her cause by going to the Justgiving site www.justgiving.com/marvellousmimi1.

Once again, Mimi extends her grateful thanks to her sponsors for making the attempt possible, and in particular her main sponsor, Talbot Underwriting Ltd.