It is a beautiful sight to see history being made right before your very eyes. It has a very touchy-feely vibe about it knowing that this one event will become a part of – not only a person’s own history but also a history of a group of people. That is what Portuguese expat Maria Conceicao achieved – gaining several World Records all within a span of a single year! If that isn’t history, we don’t know what is.
Raised in Portugal and based in Dubai, humanitarian Maria Conceicao has conquered the 777 Challenge in a world-record finish in her relentless dedication to raise awareness and funds for underprivileged children living in the slums.
The 777 challenge was the first endurance adventure of its kind that required running seven official marathons over seven continents in seven consecutive days. The event kicked off on February 8 in Australia, followed by consecutive legs that took place in the UAE, France, Tunisia, the United States and Chile. The race hit a snag on its last stage as several attempts to fly to Antarctica were aborted due to bad weather and low visibility. After being stranded in Chile, for 4 days, the team finally got the clearance to fly to Antarctica on February 18th to complete the race.
It was an epic finish nonetheless for Maria, who created history by officially becoming the fastest woman to complete an official marathon in each continent. The previous Guinness World Record was 48 days as opposed to the mere 11 days it took her. The previous record for the fastest woman to complete a marathon and an ultra marathon on each continent was one year and 180 days. Maria completed her marathons and ultra marathons within a year.
These latest achievements take Maria’s record-breaking tally to a total of six, all achieved within 11 months.
The founder of the Maria Cristina Foundation, the iron-willed Maria pushes her own physical limits to raise awareness and funds for underprivileged children living in the slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Exhaustion, body pain, and jet lag aside, Maria said, “I am still finding it hard to believe that I have completed the challenge in 11 days. I am not a fast runner, but I was so determined that nothing would have stopped me from finishing this challenge. Although I trained hard for months to complete the challenge, I do feel very lucky even to just get through. Maybe it is destiny? All I know is that my commitment to help others gives me power to see the challenges through. I ran to secure the future of my 200 children. Our foundation is consistently strong with purpose and vision, but we struggle financially. This will always be the toughest challenge. I hope that my adoptive mother Maria Cristina Matos da Cunha would be proud.”
Maria was joined by two other Dubai-based expats – Rosa Areosa and Saul Keens, and Lorena Puica from the UK – all supporters of the foundation. Altogether, the group endeavoured to promote the foundation’s cause – to help children in the slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh get a quality education that would lay the foundation for a rewarding career path and help them and their families break the cycle of poverty.
“I have to be honest; there were many tears and difficulties during the challenge. My feet were swollen from all the running and flying and my heart is still aching for the 168 children we haven’t been able to re-register in the new academic year of 2016. I was hoping to create a media buzz with a success story of fundraising by completing the 777 Challenge. Me alone finishing this challenge will not make it successful; it is only when people come forward and donate that will ultimately make this gruelling challenge worthwhile. I am so thankful to Nabil Dalle for sponsoring me to take part in this event, Imran Ahmed, and Full Potential UK for sponsoring parts of my training. Thank you to Sport in Life Dubai, who provided all my running kit and sports nutrition during the training and the challenge, and thank you to Right Bite for supplying my meals during 777 training.”
Maria, a woman with an incredible life-story herself, has recently published her biography, which also tells the story of Maria Cristina Foundation. All proceeds from the book go towards the education of the children living in the slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Copies can be purchased by making a donation on the charity’s website and informing the administration of your address to send the book to.
Photos supplied by: Maria Conceicao
