Words by Smiley Team
For many, the Boston Marathon is something to strive for and work for – something that has days and weeks of practice leading up to it, and days of rest afterward. To Jacky Hunt-Broersma it was just the 92nd checkpoint in a 104-leg journey.
In total, Hunt-Broersma ran 104 marathons in 104 days including two official races, the Boston Marathon and the Lost Dutchman Marathon. She did this all with one leg and a prosthesis. The goal was to break the Guinness World Record for most consecutive marathons run by a woman, and also just to see if she could while raising money while doing it.
“The previous person that had done it, I had looked at it and I'm like, Well, she can do it," Hunt-Broersma told NPR.
"And it was an interesting journey because I wanted to push the limits and see how far, but also see how far I could do it and if my prosthetic would actually last.”
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The current world record holder is Alyssa Clark, who in 2020 ran 95 consecutive days. If Hunt-Broersma’s runs are confirmed by Guinness she will be the new record holder.
The original number of days that Hunt-Broersma wanted to go was 102 but she ended up adding two more... just because. She started the endeavor with the aim to raise $30,000 for Amputee Blade Runners, a charity that provides running blades for amputees, which aren't covered by many insurance companies.
She ended up raising over $192,000.
In an interview with Axios, she explained why she chose Amputee Blade Runners to support.
“Running changed my life. It made such a big difference mentally, and it really helps you accept yourself as an amputee. A lot of amputees suffer from depression, and I feel running changed that for me, so I wanted to pay that forward.”
Hunt-Broersma made headlines in 2020 for becoming the first amputee to run 100 miles on a treadmill, a feat that she did in under 24 hours.
SUPPORT: Check out Amputee Blade Runners if you want to support them and what they do helping runners like Jacky.
DONATE: You can directly donate to Amputee Blade Runners to help them continue the work they do.
