Britons Set for 7th Marathon in 7 Days

Sunday’s New York Marathon will be the seventh one in seven days – on seven continents – for two British adventurers.

Before coming to New York, explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes – cousin of actors Ralph and Joseph – and his running partner, Michael Stroud, ran an overnight marathon past Egypt’s ancient pyramids and through Cairo streets.

Fiennes ran in support of the Women for Peace International, an organization chaired by Egyptian first lady Suzanne Mubarak, and the People to People initiative, which promotes international peace, according to a press statement.

The pair had already completed marathons in London, Singapore, Chile, the Falkland Islands and Australia.

Each 26-mile run had to be completed within six hours so the pair could remain on schedule, Stroud told reporters Wednesday in Sydney, Australia.

Fiennes described the Singapore leg of his challenge as “hell on Earth” after temperatures soared above 90 degrees.

The 59-year-old Fiennes, who had double bypass surgery following a heart attack in June, was once described by the Guinness Book of World Records as the “world’s greatest living explorer” for leading more than 30 expeditions, including the first polar circumnavigation of the Earth, in 1982.

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On the Net:

British Heart Foundation: http://www.bhf.org.uk/