Robert Pope (born 1978) is a British veterinarian, athlete, author and charity fundraiser. He is an elite distance runner, with a number of successes at the marathon and ultramarathon distances. In 2016 he began a 422-day, 15,700-mile run comprising more than 4 complete crossings of the United States, and became the first person to trace the route run by

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

' fictional character in the film ''

Forrest Gump ''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis. An adaptation of the Forrest Gump (novel), 1986 novel by Winston Groom, the screenplay of the film is written by Eric Roth. It stars Tom Hanks in the title rol ...

''. He has raised approaching £100,000 for the charities Peace Direct and the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...

Early life and education

Pope was born and grew up in

Croxteth Croxteth is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and a Liverpool City Council Ward. Although housing in the area is predominantly modern, the suburb has some notable history. At the 2011 census it had a population of 14,561. Etymology ...

, Liverpool. He attended St. Edward's College, Liverpool. From 1996 to 2010 he attended the

Royal Veterinary College The Royal Veterinary College (informally the RVC) is a veterinary school located in London and a member institution of the federal University of London. The RVC was founded in 1791 and joined the University of London in 1949. It is the oldest an ...

, London, gaining a BVetMed(Hons.), a BScVetPath(Hons.) and finally a PhD in Veterinary Medicine. He has since worked as an emergency veterinarian.

Competitive running career

At age 37, Pope became the Australian Marathon Champion at the 2015

Australian Athletics Championships The Australian Athletics Championships or Australian Open Track and Field Championships are held annually to determine Australia's champion athletes in a range of athletics events. The championships are the primary qualification trial for athle ...

with a time of 2:29:59. He subsequently won the Liverpool Rock'n'Roll Marathon in both 2015 and 2016, the latter with a personal best time of 2:27:13. Pope holds the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for the fastest marathon dressed as a film character, set for running the 2018 London Marathon in a time of 2:36:28 (finishing 82 overall) while dressed as

. In 2019, Pope competed in the 6-day

Marathon des Sables ''Marathon des Sables'', or MdS, (French language, French for Marathon of the Sands) "Facing Africa NOMA : The Marathon des Sables", FacingAfrica.org, 2010, webpage: -->pages/mds/default.asp FA8. is a seven-day, about ultramarathon, whi ...

ultramarathon, covering 156 miles (250 km) across the

Sahara Desert The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

while carrying all food. He finished 14th overall.

"Forrest Gump" run and charity fundraising

In 2016, Pope quit his job as an emergency veterinarian and began his

run which would see him run across the United States of America more than four complete times, in a bid to recreate the 15,300-mile route run by

' fictional character. On May 11, 2018, after 422 days of running, he became the first person to complete this route, as well as the first person to cross the US four times on foot. Pope is estimated to have run 15,607 miles (approximately 600 marathons), made more than 24 million total steps and averaged 37 miles a day. Included in these totals are the New York, Boston, Manchester, Brighton and London marathons, completed during various breaks within the 422-day period. His first act on completion of his run was to propose to his girlfriend, Nadine Strawbridge, who was waiting with their newborn daughter, Bee. Pope sought sponsorship for the Forrest Gump run, raising nearly £38,000 for the charities Peace Direct and the

. In recognition of his charitable efforts, Pope attended Prince Charles' 70th birthday celebrations. Pope's self-penned book recounting of his American run, "Becoming Forrest: One Man's Epic Run Across America", was published by Harper Collins in 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Robert 1977 births Living people Alumni of the Royal Veterinary College British veterinarians English male marathon runners British male marathon runners World record holders