October 19, 2023 | Fitness, Travel,

Why you can go viral with 6 stars – Abbot World Marathon Majors

Beatrice Lessi

As soon as I returned from Berlin, where I recently run its world-famous marathon – thanks to the fact that it’s flat and fast, always has the right temperature and it’s known for its record breaking times – many people sent me a funny video of a dancing guy, Jocelin Pierre-Louis, that went viral.

Jocelin had also run the last of the six World Marathon Majors Marathons.

Everybody asked me to dance like him to celebrate my sixth star too, and I immediately accepted. Jocelin had more than 2 million views, I had a bit less…but you can watch it here to see my interpretation of it, and hopefully get inspired – to run, not to dance!

So what does it mean to run for the six stars and why are people so happy about it?

It means you’ve completed the most important marathons in the world: New York, Boston, Chicago, Tokio, London and Berlin. This requires a combination of fitness (especially because for some marathons it’s really hard to get in, so you’ll need to qualify), stamina (in every sense: during the marathon but also keeping chasing this goal), and traveling (the six cities you’ll run are far away).

When you start the process, you should go to the Abbott World Marathon Majors website to claim one star for each marathon you’ve run. You simply need to prove you have an official result, and verify your ID. At the end you’ll get the famous big medal which is made of all medals. It was on display at the expo, and I honestly saw some people salivating while watching it. What a dream for many runners.

Once you have 5 Marathon Majors results and have claimed your stars, you’ll be watched closely: the Abbott World Marathon Majors organisation knows about this and will prepare a medal. You will also get an incredible feedback by fellow runners. This trophy is really beloved.

It took me 17 years, but I did get my medal and enjoyed my dance! What’s next now? The 7 continents, of course. Hopefully it will take me a bit shorter. In the meantime, let’s keep running.