News & Media Coverage

Marathon runners are known for their casual brags about race times and courses. If you want to win every conversation, though, you should run a marathon on Antarctica. You read that right—you can actually run a marathon on Antarctica, and so many people are crazy enough to do it that the event sells out three years in advance. Thom Gilligan started the Antarctica Marathon & Half-Marathon in 1995, then went on to found the Seven Continents Club to celebrate the first four runners who completed a marathon on every continent. You can leave your crampons behind—the course is entirely made of dirt roads, and it starts and finishes outside the Russian base on Antarctica. Runners must be hardy—they will have to be self-sufficient and “cannot expect any access to indoor facilities.” (So no Gatorade rest stations then?)Read More

The AIMS Green Award recognised the significant achievement of the Cape Town Marathon achieving carbon neutral status through offsetting its emissions, the only marathon in the world to have achieved such distinction. This important climate change mitigation action, as well as achieving zero waste to landfill swayed the judges in Cape Town’s favour in a closely contested competition. Gold status is conferred on a limited number of global marathons each year and places Cape Town Marathon on the same platform as the great city marathons of the world. Participation of gold-status athletes, a suitable spread of competing countries at elite level and various other technical and media criteria determine the award of status.Read More

“Marathon Tours & Travel is proud to be hosting runners and their supporters for the 37th year in a row at this weekend’s Virgin Money London Marathon,” stated Thom Gilligan, Founder and CEO. “Now one of the six Abbott World Marathon Majors, the London Marathon was first held in 1981 and Marathon Tours & Travel has been supporting the race since 1982. Included in this year’s group of clients are 60 runners hoping to complete their final Abbott World Marathon Major and collect the coveted Six Star Finisher Medal.”Read More

Marathon Tours & Travel is thrilled to have been involved with Chris Santella's most recent book: Fifty Places to RUN Before You Die. This is one all runners need to check-out! Among the fifty destinations featured include Marathon Tours & Travel signature races: the Antarctica Marathon & Half-Marathon and the Madagascar Marathon & Half-Marathon. MTT contributors included Thom Gilligan (Forward and Madagascar), Jacqui Kaufman (Amazing Maasai) and Karen Hoch (Marabana). Read more

Michigan native Paul Bultema has always had a passion for travel. The last couple of years, he's added on a new-found love of running. The combination will take him to a unique destination and a chance to cross off another bucket-list challenge. Bultema, 49, is entered to compete in a marathon on King George's Island in Antarctica on Friday, March 16. Should he finish in what could be sub-zero temperatures, Bultema would reach the goal of finishing a marathon on all seven continents. He hopes to join a rare group of about 600 globally as a member of the Seven Continents Club.Read More

Runners like Sauriol are combining their love of travel with a pair of laced up running shoes and redefining what it means to go on vacation. “On your feet is one of the best ways to see a new city,” said Sauriol, whose first international marathons in Berlin and Dublin got her hooked on adventure travel. “I can’t stop. There are so many places I want to go.” That desire to see the world on your own two feet is the premise of Marathon Tours, a company that organizes trips for runners on all seven continents.Read More

Those who appreciate the feeling of braving a wild frontier should consider a visit during this season, which extends from July to September. Torres del Paine National Park, in the southern tip of Chile, is a big attraction all year round. During the winter, the winds die down, the skies clear up, and the mountains and glaciers are primed for panoramic picturesRead More

Launching in September 2018, the new AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Rankings aims to advance the sport of marathon running by highlighting the achievements of age-group marathon runners, that otherwise sometimes go unnoticed.Read More

Race photos from the 2017 Amazing Maasai Marathon, Half-Marathon, and 10K held in Likipia North, Kenya are now available.Read more

Chile has a wealth of adventure tourism for visitors to uncover from skiing down a volcano in Pucón, scuba-diving off Easter Island and ice-field walking in Patagonia, to taking a hot air balloon flight over the Atacama Desert and white water rafting on the Futaleufu River.Read more