Singaporean becomes first athlete in wheelchair to complete 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days
Dr William Tan, a leukemia survivor, raced over 295km across 7 continents including Antarctica in 7 days.
SINGAPORE — Dr William Tan, a former Paralympian and doctor, became the first person to complete the World Marathon Challenge in a wheelchair on 6 February, according to the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC).
From 31 January to 6 February, the 66-year-old Singaporean competed along with 48 others in the 2023 World Marathon Challenge, which had circuits in Antarctica, South Africa, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Spain and Brazil.
A week of gruelling challenges
According to Tan, his greatest challenge of the week came during the fifth marathon in Spain.
In an interview with local daily The Straits Times, Tan shared that he felt a sense of defeat and thought his dream was over when his racing wheelchair's front wheel snapped.
Tan's racing wheelchair has larger wheels and a lighter frame compared to an everyday wheelchair. It is designed with one front wheel and two at the rear, which allows Tan to sit horizontally, helping to reduce wind resistance.
But his resilient side convinced him to hang on, completing the following two races in Fortaleza, Brazil, and Miami in his everyday wheelchair. As such wheelchairs were designed for every day use and not long distance races, it took Tan five hours to complete those races, instead of the usual two.
Tan told The Straits Times, “The wheelchair is upright and is not aerodynamic, causes so much wind resistance and I had to use a different set of muscles. There was so much use of my rotated calves it really hurt pushing for 42.2km.”
His other challenges included racing a total distance of 295km in a week, and going through the harsh weather conditions in Antarctica, where temperatures plummeted to -20 deg C with headwinds of 97kmh.
In his Facebook post, the physician, who was diagnosed with stage 4 leukemia in 2009, expressed gratitude for completing the challenge while in his 14th year of remission.
At age 15, Tan was introduced to wheelchair sports after being diagnosed with polio at two years old, said the SDSC.
A wheelchair racer for 50 years, Tan has competed in over 100 races, including representing Singapore in the 1988 Seoul Paralympics and 2018 Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon.
In 2007, he set the world record for the fastest person in a wheelchair to complete seven marathons across seven continents in 26 days.
According to The Straits Times, with his latest record-breaking feat, Tan plans to raise $77,000 for seven charities, five local and two overseas.
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