‘We Can Do Hard Things’: These Youth Runners Ran a 5K in 6 Different Countries—in the Same Day
As a child, I loved reading the Guinness Book of World Records. I remember poring over the photos of the biggest pizza ever made and the longest hair ever grown with total fascination. But a group of young runners from Kalamazoo, Michigan, are doing more than reading about world records; instead, they actually set one.
On April 22, Delilah Mathieu, now 10 years old but 9 at the time, Noah Sanders, 10, Lincoln Randall, 11, Elin Randall, 13, and Ainsley Randall, 15, accompanied a group of 15 adults to set the world record for most 5Ks run in separate countries in one day. The world stage race started at 6 a.m. in Austria and ended with a sunset run in Luxembourg.
“The best part for me is looking back and realizing that we can do hard things,” said Ainsley, who, despite being the oldest of the kids in the group, is the newest to running. “I push myself so much more now because I did that. It's crazy.”
The group (minus Elin, who’s currently at summer camp) spoke to Runner’s World about their phenomenal achievement.
Where It All Started
This record-breaking world stage race is the brainchild of Noah’s father, longtime runner Josh Sanders. Although his day job is as a marketing director, Josh told Runner’s World he's been passionate about running since his own childhood in Wisconsin, when he went out running in the countryside with his dad. Later, he ran track and cross country in college; in his thirties, he became a mountain runner for Salomon, and in his forties, he started running masters races on the track. And through it all, he coached adult runners from all over the world.
Josh’s son, Noah, started running with him as early as age 2, and when Noah began attending Kalamazoo Christian School three years ago, Josh started the Comets Track Club, an after-school running program, at the school.
“I was hoping 20 kids would join, and 150 joined,” says Josh. Lincoln and Delilah both joined early on and have been deeply involved ever since. The team competes in national competitions, USATF events, and the Michigan Junior Olympics, boasting a whopping 49 state champions in the elementary kids’ division.
“When I started the track club, it really turned into my full focus,” says Josh. “In fact, last fall, I stopped coaching professionally to entirely dedicate myself to the track club team and move up with the kids into middle school and eventually high school, hopefully.”
While he loves competing, Josh believes running should also be fun even when you aren’t coming in first place. That's how he first started breaking records. “About seven years ago, I started doing what I call adventure running records; not world records for speed, but just doing something that the average person, if they have the idea and execute on it, can do,” he said.
He’s led groups in setting records such as running in the most national parks in a day or running a single mile in the most countries (13, if you’re curious) in a day. When he came up with the 5K world stage race, Noah wanted to come along—and soon enough, so did his friends. Delilah and her mother signed on, and Lincoln roped in his whole family, including sisters Ainsley and Elin.
Austria
The group traveled across Europe in three passenger vans along a route mapped out by Josh using Google Maps. Each run was an out-and-back 5K, and Josh made an effort to select flat, scenic trails; five out of the six runs went along the Rhine River. The group spent a few days in Paris, France, before heading to Austria, where they spent the night just a 10-minute drive away from their first run. It was early and cold, so they started off slow. “I thought it was one of the more fun ones, just because we were all running together,” said Ainsley. “It was right after break, so we were talking about how our break went, and singing.” At the halfway point, Lincoln did a cartwheel, a tradition he continued for almost every 5K that day.
Liechtenstein
Next up was Liechtenstein, just a short drive away. The kids talked and ran at a reasonable pace; Lincoln did another cartwheel. Since the winner of the race was to be the cumulatively fastest participant over all six 5Ks, Josh encouraged the kids to take it easy at first and save their fastest speeds for the final 5K, which would give them the opportunity to be the first to set the record. “These kids really are fast,” said Josh. “Delilah is a sub-6:30 miler in third, fourth grade. Noah and Lincoln are both sub-six before even getting to middle school. So these are really, really fast kids. But they were doing a 9-minute pace, running calm.”
Switzerland
From Liechtenstein, there was a 45-minute drive to Switzerland, their first longer drive. In the car, over the course of the day, the kids played trivia games led by Josh and Lincoln worked hard on building his first-ever Minecraft base. “Lincoln worked on his base for so much that my switch died and he still hadn't finished it,” said Noah. The view from their Swiss run was one of the most beautiful: a turquoise lake dotted with sailboats, and mountains in the distance. Still, no one much enjoyed the third run of the day. “Switzerland was the prettiest one, but it was one of my least favorites, ’cause I was kind of in the middle of it where I just just wanted to rest a little more, and I wanted to go fast and be done with all of it,” said Delilah. “I was definitely getting tired at that point, and sore.” But it was also where Lincoln, Ainsley, and Delilah hit their first personal records; they finished 9.3 miles, the most any of them had run in one day.
France
For the team’s French run, Josh found an island in the middle of the Rhine, on the border between France and Germany. Unlike their other 5Ks, this one's path went through a densely forested area, providing a bit of shade in the heat. "That was one of my favorites, because my muscles weren't as cold and sore anymore," said Delilah. Lincoln particularly liked getting to walk across a lock to get to the island, and after the run, when everyone stopped for lunch, Noah tried his first-ever cup of coffee, a mocha latte. “I figured if you can run 18 miles in a day and set a record, you’re big enough for your first European cup of coffee,” said Josh. Noah’s review? “It was terrible. Bad. It wasn’t that warm either.”
Germany
Next up was Germany, where they once again ran their 5K along the Rhine. “It was one of the windiest runs I have ever done,” said Josh. “It had to be at least 25, 30-mile-an-hour sustained winds.” On their way to the halfway point, the wind worked in the runners' favor, pushing them along. But on the way back? “At the halfway point, I had to stop and tie my shoe, and then I had the wind in my face, and I had to catch up, and it took a quarter mile to catch up,” said Noah. For Lincoln, talking to Noah helped distract him from the wind's intensity, and for Ainsley, it was appreciating the yellow flowers along the riverbank that did the trick—plus a little maneuvering. “What I was doing is I would have my sister run in front of me, and then, you know how birds make a V when they fly? I was doing that off of my sister,” she explained. “That made it less windy.”
Luxembourg
It was finally time for the group’s final run, as well as the longest drive of the day, clocking in at two and a half hours to Luxembourg. “Even though the overall championship for the stage race would have gone to adults, these little whippersnappers really flew the last one,” said Josh. All five kids went the fastest they’d gone all day. “I felt so excited to be the first girl and the youngest person to hold that record,” said Delilah. “And it was just fun to run with my friends. I was excited for dinner because after, we got a pizza party.” Meanwhile, Noah and Lincoln came out ahead of the pack, passing the marathoner who had been in the lead all day. "The last one was definitely my favorite one," said Noah. "I was the only person who had ever done that for 59 entire seconds." Afterward, the kids attempted to do a few squats (“It was so painful,” said Lincoln), and Noah and Lincoln tried to run just a little further to reach 20 miles in a day. “We were like three quarters of a mile down, and we decided that it was too hard to run,” said Noah. “So we turned around and went back, and then we had the pizza party and I ate an entire pizza.”
Record Setters in Paris
The crew spent the night in Belgium, right across the river from where they'd been running in Luxembourg, and in the morning before heading back to Paris, the newly minted record-setters were raring to get back out there. Noah and Lincoln joined Josh for another 5K run first thing in the morning. “Noah and me and Josh only did two miles,” said Lincoln. Later that afternoon, they all climbed the steps of the Eiffel Tower. “I was sore, but I've been more sore,” said Lincoln. After their months of training and preparation, all five kids were feeling just fine. “Right after the race, I was a little sore. But the day after, I was completely fine, brand new,” Delilah said.
For all the kids, the experience was an unforgettable achievement that will stay with them; Lincoln and Noah have already agreed they’d like to come back and do it again someday, when they’re older. “I’ve been excited for this, and it's nice to just tell people,” said Delilah. “That’s one of my main conversation starters, so small talk’s way easier now.”
Katja Vujić is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn whose work has appeared in Runner’s World, The Cut, Allure, Architectural Digest, The Boston Globe Magazine, and more. You can find more of her work on her website.