A new women’s world record was broken on May 4 in Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, France. Megan Eckert, 39, ran 603 miles from April 28 to May 4 at the 2025 Global Organisation of Multi-Day Ultramarathoners (GOMU) 6-Day World Championship, surpassing the previous record of 540 miles set in 2024 by Camille Herron. Eckert ran for 144 hours straight, through sunshine, heavy rain, and thunderstorms.
And she finished just 3 miles short of breaking Joe Fejes’s men’s American 6-day world record.
“I didn’t know I was going to break the world record — you never know when you start racing,” she said in a press release about the accomplishment.
Eckert’s world record still needs to be officially ratified, but officials from the GOMU 6-Day World Championship weren’t shy about confirming the feat.
“Meg Eckert becomes the first woman in history to run 600 miles (966 km) in six days, averaging 100 miles (161 km) per day,” Trishul Cherns, President of GOMU, said in the release. “She sets the women’s World Best Performance recognized by the IAU (International Association of Ultrarunners) and breaks multiple world records for non-standard multi-day ultra distances, recognized by GOMU.”
With the exception of just one 4-hour streak of heavy rain, Eckert used the same pair of Mount to Coast R1 Race Shoes throughout the entire race.
Read an interview with Meg Eckert and her record-setting run on iRunFar.
GOMU 6-Day World Championship: New Women’s World Record
The GOMU 6-Day World Championship Race is unlike many ultramarathons; 144 of the world’s top multiday ultra-runners compete on a 0.703-mile asphalt course. It is a true test of self-pacing, managing rest, and dialing one’s caloric intake.
This year, the weather conditions changed drastically over the course of the nearly week-long race. Runners had to contend with bright, clear, 80-degree weather in the afternoons, and thunderstorm downpours that drenched the athletes some mornings. In an interview with iRunFar, Eckert said that the last afternoon, the heat was extremely hard to push through.
But she persevered. In the end, when the clock ran out on the 6-Day World Championships, she’d finished 603.156 miles. With a track just 0.703 miles long, she ran 858 full laps, “with just a few meters more,” she told GearJunkie.
“I took approximately four rest breaks in a twenty-four-hour period, which varied from fifteen to thirty minutes up to two hours. I rested thirty-three hours,” Eckert said. “My husband was my crew chief, and we calculated sleep and pace together. Dobies helped with pacing charts and breaking down the mileage.”
Not Eckert’s First Rodeo (or Last)
Eckert is a special education teacher and a high school track and cross-country coach. She is no stranger to ultramarathons and multiday races, but this is only her third 6-day race. In June of last year, she ran her first 6-day race in the Dome in Milwaukee, Wisc.
In November 2024, Eckert set a 6-Day Backyard Ultra record, running 362 miles (87 laps). Now, she’s training for a 19-hour race in Colorado this June before attempting the Badwater 135 in July, a race that is revered by many as the hardest foot race on earth.
Eckert said the paperwork for her world record has been submitted, and that a drug test was administered post-race. It could take up to 8 weeks to officially ratify her record.
To keep up with Eckert as she charges into these upcoming races, follow her on Instagram. To see when her world record is officially ratified by GOMU, you can check on the organization’s webpage for world records.
Read the full article here