Robert Garside (born 6 January 1967), calling himself The Runningman, is a British runner who is credited by Guinness World Records as the first person to run around the world. Garside began his record-setting run following two aborted attempts from Cape Town, South Africa and London, England. Garside set off from New Delhi, India on 20 October 1997, completing his run back at the same point on 13 June 2003.
While his run has been challenged by some ultra distance runners and some members of the press, subsequent publications clarified a number of the points raised, such as anomalies in his online diary, and his running of the Nullarbor plain without a support crew – a feat believed impossible according to classic ultrarunning methodologies but achieved using lateral thinking and relying upon passing traffic and local people to drop off water for him instead – and highlighted the clashes of personality, running approach, and actions, that had engendered the concerns.
In assessing his feat, Trailrunner senior editor Monique Cole stated he had clearly run more of the world than anyone else, while former media critic Dan Koeppel, who became one of the few journalists outside Guinness to discuss and examine his full records at length, became convinced by 2005 that Garside had indeed run around the world and expressed great remorse and "haunting" guilt at his past part in fuelling a media frenzy that, as he felt, "screwed one of the greatest runners ever" and "erased... one of the most incredible things a runner had ever done".
Guinness World Records, who spent several years evaluating evidence, declared it authentic and the record was officially bestowed on Garside on 27 March 2007 at a ceremony in Piccadilly Circus, London, England.
Background Born in Stockport, Cheshire, England, Robert Garside attended Hillcrest Grammar School,Globetrotter hits final leg of record race – Manchester Evening News, 2005-04-09 (date uncertain as it appears to have been written in 2003 from the description of Garside in Cairo, Egypt.) where he was an all-round sportsman and captain of the soccer team, and after school, switched between several academic courses and jobs (including the Merchant Navy and police). Garside had become obsessed with running in the late 1980s, and while studying psychology at London's Royal Holloway University he described how he came across a copy of Guinness World Records in January 1995,Sports Illustrated (CNN) – Road Warrior: Robert Garside hopes to be the first man to run around the world, 2000-08-14: "I have come up with the idea of running around the world, and quite by accident. The other day I was in [the] library. The odd book out on the shelf was a colourful " Guinness Book of Records." That's what lured me, so I picked it up." – diary entry of Robert (Runningman) Garside, January 1995, London and noticed that there was a record listed for walking the world, but not for running it. He decided to attempt to set a record as the first person to run around the world, an extreme ultramarathon feat.
He credited as part of his motive, his mother's happiness at leaving his father to return to her native country, Slovakia, following their divorce, when he was a teenager, and also finding that the state of mind he reached when running as an adult brought back some of his "best times" from childhood, where he ran and played in the "huge forests" near his house.
"[Garside] says he developed a need to travel almost as a way to follow his own mother who – in exiting a difficult relationship [...] – had finally found a sense of contentment. 'I remember the day she left... she was so happy leaving all that stuff behind'. The joy and freedom of that escape, Garside says, is what gave birth to his own wanderlust. '[I wanted to see] the world, because it's a way of understanding things..."
Garside stated that his aim was to run for his own satisfaction as well as the record, therefore he set about running each continent the longest way possible, rather than the easiest way to gain the record. His run covered around 40,000 miles across 6 continents and 29 countries. Koeppel notes that attempting to run Africa was entirely voluntary, and that the renowned first walk around the world, by David Kunst 30 years earlier covered barely a third of that distance (14,452 miles) and skipped South America and Africa. In a 1998 video interview Garside added that he was motivated because it was "so challenging", clarifying that he meant it was challenging to himself.Associated Press: archive: Japan 14 August 1998 video interview
World run
Initial attempts Garside's first effort from Cape Town, South Africa, in early 1996 was abandoned in Namibia, and his second attempt, begun on 7 December 1996, started from London's Piccadilly Circus but was abandoned at the Russia-Kazakhstan border around June 1997; Garside initially covered up the break in running with fabricated diary entries (see below), for which he later apologised saying that he had not wanted potential competitors to know of the lapsed progress. He recommenced his run some weeks later, from New Delhi, India.
It was therefore his third attempt, initiated on 20 October 1997 from the monument of India Gate in New Delhi, that was eventually authenticated by Guinness as a successful record.
1997 – 2003 world run During his run, Garside updated his website with a portable computer, describing an arduous journey complicated by human and natural hurdles that included physical attacks and imprisonment as well as grueling climate extremes. He met with considerable assistance, as he was offered lodgings around the globe in such diverse settings as five-star hotels and private homes to prison cells and police stations. In addition to corporate sponsorship of £50,000, he indicated he received £120,000 in donations from individuals. One donor in Hong Kong agreed to back Garside in return for a share in future profits. Along the way, Garside also met his future wife, then Endrina Perez, in Venezuela.
Garside indicated in 2001 that it was his habit to jog seven to eight hours a day, covering an average of forty miles a day when running on flat ground, outfitted with a video camera to record his journey and a fifteen-pound backpack.Denise Dillon (24 July 2001) Man Hopes to Go Around the World on Foot, CNN Retrieved = 31 October 2010 On his third run, he used his video camera every 20 minutes while running to take a four-minute clip of his location, and routinely requested signed, dated documents from local officials.
Garside completed his world-traversing journey on 13 June 2003 at the monument of India Gate, at which time The Independent reported the total miles run over five and a half years at 35,000 (approximately 56,000 kilometers), covering territory in 30 countries. Near the end of his run, Garside indicated that the worst experiences he'd encountered were three days spent running without any food and five days spent in jail in China because he lacked proper documentation. He described running over the Himalayas as "fantastic" in spite of freezing temperatures, "the most spiritual of mind journeys."
Route and timings Route details in this section are taken from Koeppel's summary of Garside's run, published 2012
Date(s) Location Subsequent travel/notes 20 October 1997 Departs New Delhi, India Runs across Tibet and East across China May 1998 Shanghai, China Flies to Cape Noshappu, northern tip of Japan, then runs north–south length of Japan August 1998 Osaka, Japan Flies to Perth, Western tip of Australia, then runs the South coast of Australia to Sydney on the East coast September–October 1998 Nullarbor plain, Australia March 1999 Sydney, Australia Flies to Punta Arenas, Southern tip of Chile, then commences a zig-zag run to North America December 1999 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil January 2000 Marabá, Brazil May 2000 Caracas, Venezuela Attempts to continue through Colombia but forced by safety concerns related to another kidnapped and murdered long distance sportspersonIn 1996, a Russian cyclist had recently been kidnapped and killed by FARC guerillas in Colombia: see News print report and "START" Olympic Background Report on Terrorism pub. 2014 (p.7)ITN Source: "Colombia: Englishman known as "The Running Man'" says he is afraid to run through Colombia" , 1999-07-07 and political unrest related to guerilla conflicts to turn back to Venezuela and fly to the next country, Panama; then resumes running north through Central America to Mexico August 2000 Acapulco, Mexico Flies north-west across Gulf of California to the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, then runs north to the Mexico-USA borderThis flight, while in the rules, was one of those seized on by critics. September 2000 Mexico–United States border Continues running north up the Pacific coast October 2000 San Francisco, United States Begins running eastward across the width of the United States March 2001 New York City, United States Flies to Cape Town, close to the southern tip of Africa and begins running north through Africa December 2001 Mozambique-Malawi border The 9/11 attacks in New York City cause the border to be closed when Garside reaches it, forcing a change of plans for Africa. Instead of running the continent, Garside notifies Guinness, and flies to Rabat Morocco, leaving the rest of Africa for a later stage.(In the event he has only limited success in his desire to run the full length of Africa; his world run does not cover the entire length of Africa. Of note, the rules do not require him to do so, nor have other recognised pedestrian circumnavigators always done it.He does traverse Africa laterally to a limited extent, although not at its maximum width, by running from Cape Town on the Atlantic coast to Mozambique on the Indian Ocean coast) February 2002 Rabat, Morocco Runs north along the coast to the Straits of Gibraltar, then crossing the straits by ferry, enters Gibraltar and Spain. Continues running parallel to the South East coast of Spain into mainland Europe June 2002 Valencia, Spain Continues running along Southern Europe via the length of Italy, crossing to Greece and then again to inland Turkey, finally reaching Antalya Turkey. Ferries taken at places, notably the Adriatic Sea (Southern Italy-Greece), and Aegean Sea (Greece-Turkey) Around Autumn 2002 Antalya, Turkey Flies to Northern Egypt to re-attempt Africa. ? Egypt and Eritrea(Masawa Eritrea: Feb 2003) Two attempts failed at running Africa: one along the length of the Nile in Egypt, the other retracing back to north Egypt and going via Saudi Arabia and flight to Eritrea, and then south along the coast. Both failed. Garside abandons his hope of running the north–south length of Africa, although this isn't strictly required for the record. Instead he flies to, and runs part of, Mozambique, the country where he was forced to abandon his prior attempt at running Africa in December 2001. April 2003 Beira, Mozambique Flies to Kanyakumari, at the southern tip of India, then runs inland up the centre (or slightly west of central) India. 13 June 2003 Arrives New Delhi, India Run ends
Equipment, funding, and approach