To run one marathon a year, (or even once in a lifetime), puts enormous pressure on the body. So when DJO Global, the leading medical device company, heard about Marie-Louise’s extraordinary record-breaking attempt to run seven marathons in seven continents in seven days, they pulled out all the stops to support her ambition.
They provided her with their COMPEX electro-stimulation portable system, which would keep her leg muscles relaxed after each run. Following a fitting and initial training in using the ‘Compex’ at John Bell & Croydon in London, Heiko Van Vliet, Compex’s International Electrotherapy Specialist, flew from Switzerland to pass on his specialist expertise to Marie-Louise on how muscle stimulation would improve her chances of success. “To succeed in her gruelling challenge”, he said, “she must ensure that her legs recover as much as possible between each marathon while she is flying and prevent her muscles from ‘ceasing up’."
Heiko advised her to apply the Compex mi Sport after each Marathon whilst resting and sleeping on the flights between the seven continents.
She explained: “The device delivered small continuous, controlled electrical charges to my leg muscles to help them ‘actively recover’ rather than seize up on the long flights. I really believe that I could have not have achieved my record without the help of Compex - and their consultant Heiko Van Vliet who gave me advice between each marathon.”
Marie-Louise Stenild, ran her first marathon in the Falklands, Antarctica on October 30, 2010. She then ran in Santiago, Chile; Los Angeles, USA; Sydney, Australia; Singapore, Asia and Cairo, Africa before running the official London Marathon route from Greenwich to The Mall on Friday, November 5, 2010.
Fully recovered from her gruelling week, she told BBC Woman’s Hour that she had only one blister and a slight problem with her knee. “At the moment I have just got to keep running every day, so that I can wind my body down,” she said.
Marie-Louise took between 4.5 and 5.5 hours to complete each marathon and ran official routes in The Falklands, LA and London, a specially designed route in Santiago and 10K loops in Sydney, Singapore and Cairo, the last two of which were night runs. By the time she finished, she had run 295.365km in 35.5 hours.
Marie-Louise ran to raise funds for the Adam Rogers Trust which was set up by Fiona and Mark Rogers in memory of their 13-year-old son Adam who died of a brain tumour in July 2006. www.7x7x7.co.uk
