2,000 Alpine Kilometers. He Was Just Warming Up.
A Lausanne firefighter crossed the Alps from Monaco to the Adriatic in 23 and a half days, five days faster than the record set two weeks earlier. Then he kept running toward Ukraine.
Frederic Splendore, 33, a professional firefighter in Lausanne, started in Monaco on July 24 and touched the Adriatic at Muggia, outside Trieste, on August 16. In between: the full 2,000 kilometer Via Alpina and roughly 103,600 meters of climbing. His supported time of 23 days, 11 hours and 42 minutes takes more than five days off the mark New Zealand's Sophie Woods set just two weeks before.
5 days, 6 hours and 17 minutes. That is the size of the margin on a record that was a fortnight old.
The Alps were only a leg. The whole project is called Beyond Borders: 4,200 kilometers through 13 countries, ending in Ukraine, raising money for Swiss Solidarity with pledges tied to every meter climbed. In his own words, he is continuing to run "with a goal that means far more to me than any time on a clock." A 2:23 marathoner, running away from the clock on purpose. Reporting via Marathon Handbook and iRunFar.