(Some Of) The Most Notable World Records on Strava

If you’ve achieved a running or cycling Guinness World Record, you’d want to shout about it, right? So posting it on Strava is one way to get the kudos you richly deserve.

Uploading it to the platform is also a way for everyone to verify that what you’ve achieved is worthy of the record itself.

To celebrate the Guinness World Record breakers all over the planet, we’ve rounded up some of the most epic — and unusual — world records posted on Strava.

Fastest marathon dressed as road vehicle (female): Emma Whatley

The London Marathon is renowned for the wide range of fancy dress outfits donned by the marathoners, and each year many people try to crack extremely specific Guinness World Records.

This year was no exception: 44 records were broken, including Emma Whatley setting the record for the fastest marathon dressed as a road vehicle, after clocking 4:38:30 around the 26.2-mile London course dressed as a fire engine.

Other records of note set in 2024 include the fastest marathon in a 10-person costume, the fastest marathon dressed as a full-body inflatable costume and the fastest marathon carrying a fridge.

Tree planting world record: Antoine Moses

Canada's Antoine Moses can plant trees astonishingly quickly, so quickly in fact in 2021 he set a new world record for the number planted in 24 hours: 23,060 trees. That's nearly 1,000 trees an hour. He set the record in northern Canada in 2021, covering 22.9 miles / 36.9 km in the process.

105 Ironmans in 105 days: Sean Conway

Sean Conway has a history of extreme challenges. In 2015 he completed the grueling ‘Triathlon of the UK’, where he swam the circumference of the country, as well as cycling and running the length of it - a massive 4,000+ miles / 6,400+ km. in total. Last year, he had his second go at beating James Lawrence’s 101 iron-distance triathlons in a row. He recorded his ‘Ironman challenge’ for all to see and support on his Strava, swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 100 miles and running a marathon daily for an exhausting 105 days straight.

Largest GPS drawing by bike: Guillaume Koudlansky de Lustrac and Vincent Brémond

Guillaume Koudlansky de Lustrac and Vincent Brémond marked six months to go until the Paris Olympics with a unique, record-breaking piece of Strava art earlier this year. The French endurance athletes cycled 1,354 miles / 2,196 km over 96 hours, painting the Olympic rings across Strava via their GPS data to “celebrate the Olympics in their own way”. You can read their story here.

5,000m World Record: Joshua Cheptegei

Ugandan middle-distance runner Joshua Cheptegei uploaded his record-breaking 5k run at the Diamond League in Monaco back in 2020. Cheptegei clocked 12:35.36 - and racked up nearly 25,000 kudos for the performance.

Fastest circumnavigation of the world by bicycle: Mark Beaumont

Around the world in 78 days, 14 hours, 40 minutes, Scottish cyclist Mark Beaumont smashed the Guinness World Record in style, knocking an astounding 123 days off the existing record. The Strava stats involved will melt your brain: 18,000 miles / 29,000 km, averaging 16 hours in the saddle a day, with some days chalking up more than 250 miles / 400km. It’s an effort that’s almost beyond human.

366 marathons in a row: Hugo Farias

Two marathons in a week is exhausting, so it’s almost unfathomable to imagine what 365 in a row is like. One person who knows is Brazilian runner Hugo Farias. Ending the challenge on 28 August 2023, he posted every blister-inducing mile on Strava over the year, adding these wise words to his penultimate run: “Believe in your dreams. Study, plan and do it. Train a lot and above all have confidence in yourself.” This was promptly followed by “Starting tomorrow, I will reduce the running volume” on the final day.

Women’s Everesting world record: Illi Gardner

Illi Gardner climbed the height of Everest (29,032ft / 8,848m) in just 8hrs 3mins in 2022, on a hill in the south of England called Crowcombe Road in the Quantock Hills. She had to climb the ascent a mere 59 times to hit the combined height and snag the record in the time – which she already held, having set the time of 8hrs 38mins a year previously.

Most miles cycled in a month (male): Arvid Loewen

Canada's Arvid Loewen secured the world record for the farthest distance cycled in one month (male) back in 2020, where he covered an incredible 7219.08 miles / 11,617.99 km in July. To achieve the feat, Arvid cycled from Winnipeg to Lockport again, and again, and... again.

Running the length of Africa: Russ Cook

Russ Cook hit headlines across the world in April after completing his south-to-north traverse of Africa entirely on foot. It took the British runner 352 days, saw him robbed, suffer severe illness and undergo multiple tricky border crossings. Initial claims that he was first to achieve such a feat were contested by a number of people including the World Runners Association, which claims a Danish runner, Jesper Kenn Olsen, was first to run across Africa in 2010, and Briton Nick Bourne, who also completed the route in 1998. Despite this, it remains an epic feat of endurance that deserves all the Strava kudos.

100 Mile World Record (Running): Aleksandr Sorokin

When it comes to serial record breakers on Strava, it's hard to look past Aleksandr Sorokin. The Lithuanian runner holds a number of ultra-distance records, including 100 miles on a track, 200 miles / 322 km in 24 hours, and the fastest 100km on the road.