Jason Darnall of Benton is in rarefied air, a member of an elite club of marathon runners who have accomplished a feat few have attained. In September 2014, Jason earned what is known as “the crown jewel of race medals”, one of the most exclusive and impressive medals in running, given to Six Star Finishers who have completed the World Marathon Six Majors. On June 18th, he completed another milestone – running a marathon on all seven of the world’s continents.
The World Marathon Six Majors is completed in a two-year cycle that began for Jason in October 2012 and completed in September 2014. The six majors are the biggest and most competitive marathons in the world and include – Boston Marathon, New York Marathon, Chicago Marathon, London Marathon, Tokyo Marathon and Berlin Marathon.
“I was watching the Olympics in 2012 and I thought I think I’m going to go run London”, Jason said of what inspired him. “That was the first time I thought about the world majors. I had already done Boston and Chicago so I thought I’m going to do London and knock out these majors.”
Jason’s average finish time in the six world majors is 3:15 for the 26.2 miles, which puts him among the top eight percent of the best marathon runners in the world.
Along the way while checking off the six world majors, Jason picked up three continents, just four more and he accomplishes another major milestone, the “Seven Continents Club” – the achievement of running a marathon on all of the earth’s seven continents which only a few hundred runners in the world have done.
With the next goal in mind, Jason took a bit of a hiatus in 2015, but still checked marathons off his bucket list like the original marathon route from the town of Marathon to Greece in Athens which he says “was pretty emotional, running the original marathon route and finishing in the original Olympic stadium.”
The marathon became an original modern Olympic event in Greece in 1896 and the story is that the world’s first marathon was unintentionally run in 490 BC by a Greek soldier, Pheidippides, who covered 25 miles from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce a battle victory over the Persians, and more than 2,000 years later, it became an Olympic event.
“After Greece, I began knocking out the continents”, Jason said. “I did Rio and Australia in 2016 and Antarctica and Africa this year.”
The final continent came less than 10 days ago on June 18th at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in southern Africa, the seventh of the continents which included marathons in Boston, London, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Australia, Antarctica and finally Africa.
As far as Jason knows, there are just two Kentuckians that have completed the seven continents but thinks he is the first runner from Kentucky to do all seven continents and all six world majors.
Reflecting back on the accomplishment, Jason said the most difficult of the seven continents was Antarctica which he ran in January of this year, the summer season in the southern most continent and site of the South Pole.
“We got really lucky on the weather, sunny, a little windy and 33-34 degrees”, Jason said. “Two things about Antarctica that made it more difficult. One is the mental because our home base was Punta Arenas, Chili, and to get to Antarctica you have to have a window to get there and a window to get out – it’s all weather dependent and Antarctica weather changes so much so we were never really sure when we were going to get to leave”
For a runner of his caliber, preparation is key, including when to do the last run and start eating, how much to eat and all the other pre-race routine items.
“We went to bed on a Monday night with the plan of leaving Tuesday morning, but still not sure if it would happen”, Jason said. “It was very nerve racking and very hard mentally to get ready for it. When we landed (in Antarctica) we had to carry our gear about two miles to the site, drop it and start. We had to leave Chili in our running clothes.”
Jason said it was also draining physically with runners camping in the valley in the middle of the two and a half mile course on each side, a hilly, rocky course which he said was “impossible to get up any speed.” One long steep hill after another, Jason completed the marathon in 4:46, which was way over an hour over his average time, but finished fifth.
Of his now 20 marathons which includes two 50-mile ultra marathons, Jason said his favorite race of all time is going to be the 2014 Boston Marathon.
“That was the first year after the bombing. Everyone in the world wanted to run that one to show the world we were not going to be deterred by terror. It was a beautiful day in Boston, huge crowds that treated you like rock stars. The left hand turn on Boylston Street when you can see the finish and you hear that roar, it was very emotional. I wish I could bottle that feeling.”
Jason said his favorite foreign marathon would have to be London saying “it was really cool because it was a week after the bombing so everyone came out and supported us there.” He said Berlin was really nice because it was a super fast course, a lot of support, and a world record was set the day he ran it.
He is most proud of his personal record of 2:56.36 set in Chicago in October 2012, a sub three hour milestone only two percent of marathon runners who toe the line will achieve.
Now that the Benton attorney has achieved these major milestones, he’s taking time to reflect on them and think about what’s next. Jason plans to run the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C. and is thinking of doing another one in the state of Washington, a Boston qualifier, which he has competed in three times.
You may notice what is consistent in Jason’s seven marathons on seven continents. The proud University of Kentucky graduate wore the same blue Kentucky shirt in each race as seen in the pictures below.
When asked what drives him to run marathons, his answer is simple – “I do it really because I can. Somewhere along the way I figured out that God had given me this ability to run long distance and be competitive in races. I told myself I was going to challenge myself to run against the best people in the world.”
