Jacqui Bell: youngest to run an ultra marathon on 7 continents

At age 24, Australian Jacqui Bell is the youngest person to run an ultra marathon on all 7 continents. And not only did she run an ultra on each continent, they were all multi day stage races!

In 2016, before she was an ultra runner, Jacqui broke five bones and had her tonsils out in the space 12 months, and got addicted on prescription painkillers, and her mental health began to suffer. The addiction consumed her life and, in an attempt to change things, she moved to Bali to train as a yoga instructor. While there, she was voilently robbed and ended up hospitalised for 10 days and had over 200 stitches. She then moved back to Queensland, determined to turn things around in her life and began running.

She built up her running, eventually running her first Ultra Marathon on the Gold Coast, and then decided to enter the 4 Deserts Ultra-Series. After doing that, completing ultra marathons on the remaning 3 continents made sense!

The events she ran were:

1. 4 Deserts Ultra-Series in Namibia in April 2018
2. 4 Deserts Ultra-Series in Mongolia in July 2018
3. 4 Deserts Ultra-Series in Chile in September 2018
4. 4 Deserts Ultra-Series in Antarctica in November 2018
5. Alps 2 Ocean Stage Race in New Zealand in March 2019
6. Fire and Ice Ultramarathon in Iceland in August 2019
7. Grand 2 Grand Ultramarathon in the USA in September 2019

Since becoming an ultra runner, Jacqui has raised more than $20,000 for the White Cloud Foundation mental health charity.

Check out a recent interview with her here on Nine's Today show:

Find out more about Jacqui at her website and follow her on Facebook.