Reg Willick says it was the toughest thing he’s ever done.
On Nov. 21, 2024, the marathon runner, 62, from Spiritwood, Sask., finished 19th among the 60 competitors who took part in the Great World Race: seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.
His goal was simple: finish every race uninjured in a reasonable time and be ready for the next.
Willick says he truly became interested in long-distance running after taking part in his first marathon in Regina 12 years ago.
“I ended up running all six major marathons, which are held in Boston, Berlin, Tokyo, London, Chicago and New York,” he says.
Then, he was looking for another challenge and found The Great World Race.
Willick, who now lives in Vancouver after retiring, says its description piqued his interest.
“Once I gave my deposit a year ago I was pretty well committed,” he said. “It was kind of one of those things you think about and then once you commit and start paying money to it and start training, there’s no turning back.”
Willick says he practised slow running, steady running and hard running leading up to the marathons. His training regimen was more complex knowing there would be no rest-and-recovery periods between events.
WATCH | Reg Willick traces the 7 legs of his running journey:
The first marathon took him to Antarctica, which he says was his favourite place to run despite the fact it was so cold his sweat turned into ice. Being from Saskatchewan and playing hockey when he was young really helped, he says.
“It was -15 to -16 F (-26 C), it was sunny and it was just beautiful.”
After Antarctica, the runners moved on to races in Cape Town, South Africa; Perth, Australia; and two in Istanbul, Turkey (comprising Europe and Asia) — all of which were warm-ups for “the hardest and the toughest race for the whole 60 runners … Cartagena, Colombia,” Wick said.
The weather was 35 C with 91 per cent humidity.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” says Willick.
“Every runner that I talked to after said the same thing.”
The final race on Nov. 21 took the runners to Miami.
Willick says that between the travelling and the races the runners barely got any time to recover, and the airplanes became their bedrooms for the week.
The runners were fed really well and kept hydrated, Willick says, but the lack of sleep was harder than he expected.
“That was more of an endurance race than just a marathon,” he said. “Toward the end of it, we were just living on very little sleep and just adrenaline and your training kicked in. But it’s impossible to train, you know, for running on little sleep.”
Willick says he’s feeling well after completing the huge challenge, and is already back to running five-kilometre races.
“This 7-7-7 marathon is something that you do once in a lifetime.” he says. “It’s not something I ever want to do again.”