New Running Record For The Guiness Book of Records

Emma Timmis has broken the world record for running the length of New Zealand in 21 days – two weeks faster than the previous holder.

Holding a bottle of champagne at the Stirling Point finish line on Friday night, her crusade from Cape Reinga started on December 18, and was led by an entourage of police vehicles for safety at the end.

Now recuperating in Omaui with her support crew for the weekend, when asked if she would do it all again, Emma said “probably not, as the roads were hard and dangerous.”

What’s on Invers founder Mike Sanders stumbled across the story after passing her between Clinton and Mataura on his way back from holiday.

Sponsored by The Shoe Clinic, and reliant on a few extra New Balance 880s, Invercargill branch manager Ben Fokkens said Emma went through three pairs but the last pair had to be swapped for a bigger size when her feet started to swell.

Running all of that way and averaging 100km a day, her feet needed a lot of strapping, so her last in Timaru had to be upsized, Ben said.

An average pair of running shoes lasts between 800km and 1000km.

Emma planned the world record attempt four years ago but struggled with a lower leg injury.   She had run further distances internationally and at faster speeds, but her mental health started to suffer.

Her injured leg meant she could no longer do her job as a rock-climbing instructor, so she turned to art and writing to make a living instead.

Based in Kaiapoi, Emma is now an accomplished artist and author, and is originally from Derby in England.

After New Zealand’s lockdown in 2020, she “bit the bullet” and committed to illustrating a children’s book she had written about her Africa run.

Money raised from this event would be going towards Youthline and Young Minds (UK).