Meet the 56-year-old who has become first person in Northants to run 100 marathons and 100 half marathons

Mark Rose recently became the 56th person in the UK to reach this impressive milestone, having dedicated the past four years to ticking the 200 races off his list.

He began cross country running in school and this dropped off in his early 20s until 2008, when he took a colleague up on the offer to complete the Great North Run in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

No sooner had he completed this half marathon, they had signed up to complete the London and New York marathons the following year.

Mark wondered what he had agreed to considering how he felt after the Great North Run, but the pair raised more than £16,500 between them across the three successful events.

Mark joined Northampton Roadrunners running club to complete shorter distances, as well as a couple of half marathons in 2016, and this ramped up at the end of 2019.

He then decided to work towards the ambitious milestone, as nobody at the running club had completed it, and he was inspired by those who had done 100 of one or the other.

When running events kickstarted as pandemic restrictions eased, Mark continued his progress doing a mixture of the two distances. To chase the numbers, Mark ran every other weekend and travelled the country – typically completing a marathon on both Saturday and Sunday throughout 2024.

Mark completed his aim of reaching 100 marathons on August 31, 2024 with an event in Northampton. He started the year on 72 and spent his weekends building that up.

Once the marathons were ticked off, he turned his focus to the half marathons and reached the goal on April 18 this year with another event in Northampton at the same location where he completed his 100 marathons.

“It was amazing,” Mark told the Chronicle & Echo. “There were so many people there and it was very emotional. My mother, brother, family, friends and people from my running club were there.

“It was a whirlwind. It’s been a mission and my focus for about four years since we came out of Covid. It’s really emotional when I think about it, and an incredible feeling to know I have done it. I have to pinch myself.”

Mark is the only ‘double agent’ in Northamptonshire and the 56th across the UK. This term is used to refer to anyone who has completed 100 marathons and 100 half marathons.

This goal has taken him around the world travelling, as he would research races and go sightseeing after ticking off a marathon or half marathon.

Mark is pleased to return to his running club and has events lined up for this year, as well as others he will be a pacer for. That includes the upcoming half marathon in Market Harborough.