Former reality star Spencer Matthews has broken new Guinness World after completing 30 marathons in 30 days through the Jordanian desert.
The 35-year-old ran 786 miles on sand, in 45 degree heat, raising more than £350,000 for Global’s Make Some Noise, beginning in Wadi Rum on the edge of the Arabian desert and finishing near the Dead Sea.
Matthews finished his last marathon in four hours and 17 minutes and has now achieved the Guinness World Record for most consecutive marathons run on sand.
The former Made in Chelsea star said: “My former self definitely wouldn’t believe it, I feel like I’ve personally come quite a long way.
“This marks the end of an incredible journey, but also the beginning of a whole new chapter of my life, I’m deeply overwhelmed and humbled by some of the incredible messages I’m getting from heroes of mine, I feel amazing.”
Matthews shot to fame in the reality TV series Made In Chelsea and has also featured in Celebrity MasterChef and The Jump.
To meet the world record criteria, he had to stay on sand. Even a layer of sand over a field of grass would would have disqualified him. He also had to run all marathons within six hours.
Posting on Instagram, he said: “I did it!!! I can hardly believe it!! 30 desert marathons 30 consecutive days… all on sand.
“I am now a Guinness World Records holding endurance athlete – the first and only person to successfully run this many back-to-back marathons in these extreme conditions. Just over 42.2km or 26.2 miles, every single day. That’s 1,274.02km of some of the world’s toughest terrain with no comfort in which to recover.”
The TV star and non-alcoholic spirits entrepreneur achieved the feat with no serious injuries, and praised his team for keeping the damage down to “niggles”.
He added: “We were able to prevent any injuries from becoming injuries when they were niggles. I covered a total of 1,270km, and I ran an additional few hundred metres every day just to make sure the data didn’t short change me at any point.
“It’s kind of impossible to cover that amount of distance without niggles, without pain and aches.
“I had problems with my hips, both knees, achilles tendons, I had (a foot injury) in my right foot quite badly, which means that the tendons on top of your foot are kind of just painful and difficult to put weight through, and on the verge of becoming problematic.”
He praised the work of his team for allowing him to keep his speed up across the mammoth challenge and said: “I’ve just taken every marathon as it came, and the legs loosened up quite early on.
“I’ve been having regular physio every day, I’ve been trying to fuel as well as I can possibly fuel, trying to get the best sleep I can even though it’s been very difficult at times, but I’ve learned quite a bit about the body, I think it’s a pretty amazing thing.
“If pushed to perform, it usually can, I’ve also become more conditioned and better adapted to the terrain and the temperatures.”
So far Matthews has raised £340,757 for Global, which supports charities including the Childhood Tumour Trust, Suicide&Co, and education charities ATF and Playskill.
He is continuing to raise money and is aiming to gather £1 million, with those wishing to donate able to do so by using the link in his Instagram bio.