Marianna Zaikova

A 27-year-old dual Finnish and Russian national who was born in the former Leningrad and moved to Finland at the age of five. Marianna says she is quite inexperienced in extreme sports but wants to challenge her limits over the coming years. She decided to cycle around Finland (approx. 3000 km) two years ago in order to do something different and subsequently ran her first marathon (and became hooked immediately after crossing the finish line). Marianna has now run four additional marathons and when she discovered the 2012 North Pole Marathon would be run on the same day as her birthday (5th April), she felt like destiny was calling her name. She has now set new targets for after the North Pole, including to complete full triathlon, to run 12 marathons in a calendar year and to add her name to the short list of Finns who have completed marathons on all seven continents. Marianna's website is www.mariannazaikova.fi.