Anand Anantharaman

Completed a vast array of marathons to date and now hoping to join the North Pole Marathon Grand Slam Club by finishing the Antarctic Ice Marathon. Anand has run 20 marathons in as many months, taking part in exotic marathons on the continents such as the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (Kenya, Africa), Australian Outback Marathon (Australia), Athens Classic Marathon (Greece, Europe) Disneyworld Marathon (USA, North America), Galapagos (Equador, South America) and the Borneo International Marathon (Malaysia, Asia) as well as the North Pole Marathon on the Arctic Ocean. After seeing the statue of Pheidippides during his Athens Marathon, Anand was inspired by the fact he was depicted running barefoot and subsequently organised the world’s first barefoot half-marathon in his home town of Navi Mumbai. With 306 athletes running the entire 13.1 miles barefoot, the first edition set a Guinness World Record for the 'Largest Barefoot Run'. Having already run the Gold Coast marathon barefoot, Anand plans to complete full marathons on six continents barefoot in 2012, but not daring to do so in Antarctica.