When presented with a challenge, Beth Sanden has no problem rising to the occasion. The 63-year-old from San Clemente, Calif. is the first athlete with a disability to complete seven marathons on seven continents in a handcycle. Toss in April’s marathon on the North Pole, and you can easily say she’s raced the entire world.
“I did this just to set an example,” Sanden told us in May. “You know what? Even if I’m an old lady, I can still do things. I’m not young enough or fast enough to go to the Paralympics, but there are still big things you can do.”
Due to a cycling accident in 2002 in which Sanden flipped over the handlebars, she’s an incomplete parapalegic, meaning she has just 35% mobility in her right leg and 10% in her left. She can’t race on her legs, so she crushes big mileage on her 43-pound handcycle instead.
Photo c/o Beth Sanden
That’s why when Sanden was invited to take on the Southern African Challenge, which is seven marathons in seven southern African countries in seven days, she didn’t bat an eye.
She got to training at high elevation and started her ongoing fundraising effort for the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), which gives those with physical disabilities access to camps, clinics, prosthetic limbs and racing equipment, all so they can participate in sports.
“Each time I race, I try and do something for CAF because I like to see instant satisfaction,” Sanden said. “Somebody who is in a chair and told they will never be able to walk again, they can get in a bike or handcycle, and ride that instant.”
Knowing an adventure was in store, Sanden and her husband, Burt, set off for Johannesburg on July 28 to accompany 22 other runners and some of their spouses in the inaugural challenge.
Of course, traveling internationally can come with bumps in the road, and Sanden’s quest to finish all seven marathons was put in jeopardy even before logging a single mile.
“The airline damaged my handcyle before it even got there. They damaged the steering damper, which is kind of like the power steering of a car,” Sanden explained. “On a mountaineer cycle, you need one because if you let go of the handlebars, your wheel could turn really quick one way or another. So I did the marathons without power steering.”
Photo c/o Beth Sanden
Sanden and the rest of the group started with the Ladybrand Border Marathon in South Africa. They had to wake up early to take on the 26.2 miles (or 13.1 miles for some) in order to make border cutoffs.
“You think we have hard boarders in America? In Africa, they’re more strict,” Sanden said. “Borders close between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. You get off the bus at each border, guards see what’s inside the bus, and then you walk through and show your passports. Then we had to walk across the border and reload the bus. At some of them, you had to step inside this insecticide pan. It was weird because they had hoof and mouth disease. A lot of the countries just don’t allow the people who don’t have their shots, or if they aren’t on malaria pills.”
Marathon No. 2 was in Lesotho at 7,000 feet in the high desert.
“We ran it around the embassies,” Sanden said. “Guys were out there with rifles, standing guard as we’re running around in circles.”
The third marathon was in Swaziland, where race organizers had to change the course because there were elephant sightings, and they didn’t want any runners to be charged by the 6,000 pound animal.
The fourth marathon was supposed to be in Mozambique, but civil unrest and a border guard who couldn’t be bribed altered the group’s plan. Instead, they took an entire day off and drove to Zambia.
“That’s where we saw more game. We were going to one preserve that was miles off a dirt road, and a giraffe ran right out in front of us as we were going 50 MPH,” Sanden said.
Photo c/o Beth Sanden
Following 26.2 miles in Zimbabwe, the 22 runners made their way to Botswana for the sixth marathon.
As they drove to their isolated lodge 50 miles out on a dirt road the night before, the front wheel of the bus got stuck in a ditch.
“Everyone got off the bus and searched for twigs and rocks to put under the tire to get some traction. About half-an-hour later, we got the bus up and out,” Sanden said. “Once we got to the lodge, the lady running it said, ‘I’m surprised you came in the back way because there were some lion sightings out there today.'”
The next morning, the marathon was held on the grounds of the compound because it was determined that due to animal sightings, it wasn’t safe enough to run anywhere else. The only problem? The compound was on a hill in deep sand.
“It took me an hour to do four miles because of the sand,” Sanden said.
So, she was able to convince race organizers to let her finish the marathon on a paved parking lot nearby.
The final race was in Namibia, where Sanden saw zebras and was stalked by an emu on her 63rd birthday.
Photo c/o Beth Sanden
“Maybe it was my yellow shirt that enamored him, but for four or five miles, if I stopped he stopped,” she said.
She crossed the finish line and celebrated her accomplishment and her birthday with crocodile ribs and a giant cake.
So, seven marathons, or 183.4 miles, for Sanden in eight days. And, more marathons are certainly in her future.
Sanden will be handcylcing the legendary NYC Marathon in November with her daughter. Then, she’ll take on the Central American Challenge in March, which involves multiple marathons and cruise ship travel.
After that? Who knows, but the world awaits, 26.2 miles at a time.
