Rik Vercoe is a British

ultramarathon An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...

runner from

Walton on Thames Walton-on-Thames, locally known as Walton, is a market town on the south bank of the Thames in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Walton forms part of the Greater London built-up area, within the KT postcode and is served by a wide ra ...

, Surrey, England. In 2013 he set the British record for most marathons completed in 365 days, having run 152 races at marathon distance and above. While setting the British record for most marathons in a year, Vercoe won both the Brathay and Irish 10 marathons in 10 days races. He was also one of the first two people to complete the Ultra Running Relentless race, which involves running an average of 30 miles a day for 30 days through all of the 47 counties in England. At the end of 2013, while running 16 marathons in Long Beach, California, Vercoe picked up the world record for the fastest aggregate time for 10 marathons in 10 days. Aged 43, he also set a new world record at the

2014 London Marathon The 2014 London Marathon was the 34th running of the annual marathon race in London, England, which took place on Sunday, 13 April. The men's elite race was won by Kenyan Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich and the women's race was won by Kenyan Edna Kipla ...

for the fastest marathon dressed as a cowboy in a time of 3:09:09. He took 32 minutes off the previous record. However, he was beaten by 39 seconds by the 'fastest jockey'. After completing the race he said:

I have to say that running dressed in blue jeans and leather chaps was not the best of ideas on one of the hottest days of the year so far. Needless to say I will indeed be walking like a cowboy for at least a week.

Previously, Vercoe competed in the 2010

North Pole Marathon The North Pole Marathon is run over the classic marathon distance at the North Pole. The race is run on small, loop about 10 times over hard snow or the frozen ice of the Arctic Ocean. There are individual competitions with male and female div ...

, representing Great Britain and finishing in second place in a time of 5:07:30 behind Joep Rozendal of the Netherlands. In April 2013, he ran the Marathon des Sables, often billed as the toughest race on earth, finishing in 39th place out of 1,024 runners, then a few days later ran the London Marathon in his desert attire to raise more funds for his chosen charity, the Brathay Trust. Aside from running, Vercoe is an avid

scuba diver Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

. By 2010, he had made over 1400 dives in 30 locations worldwide. He has written a number of guide books on diving: * * * * * *

References

External links

Rik Vercoe
profile at Power of 10 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vercoe, Rik British male long-distance runners Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Sportspeople from Surrey English non-fiction outdoors writers British ultramarathon runners British male marathon runners English male long-distance runners People from Walton-on-Thames English male marathon runners