Everest Summiteer Completes Highest Marathon
The first Black person to summit Mount Everest has now completed the world's highest marathon, marking a landmark achievement for representation in adventure sports. This milestone highlights both personal resilience and the growing diversity in high-altitude endurance events.
- The marathon was completed by Sibusiso Vilane of South Africa, who first summited Mount Everest on May 26, 2003. He summited Everest a second time in 2005 via the more difficult North Ridge route, making him the first Black African to climb the world's highest peak twice and by two different routes. - The "World's Highest Marathon" is a 42.2 km race that descends from the 6,893-meter summit of Ojos del Salado in Chile, the world's tallest volcano. Oxygen levels at the starting line are only 44% of those at sea level. - Vilane was one of only five athletes to complete the marathon out of an initial team of ten. Runners faced temperatures of -12°C with a windchill of -30°C and winds up to 100 km/h. - His journey involved a 12-hour climb to the summit, followed by an 18-hour marathon descent, totaling about 30 hours on foot with little food and no sleep for more than 48 hours. - Vilane is also the first Black person to complete the Explorers Grand Slam, which includes climbing the Seven Summits (the highest mountain on each continent) and trekking to both the North and South Poles. - To put his 2003 Everest achievement in context, by 2022, it was estimated that only 10 Black climbers had ever stood on the summit of Everest since the first ascent in 1953.
