14-Year-Old Girl Finishes Seven Marathons on Seven Continents Quest at the Athens Classic Marathon

Nov. 11, 2013 - PRLog -- Winter Vinecki, a 14-year-old American girl, became the youngest person ever to complete marathons on all seven continents after she crossed the finish line at the Athens Classic Marathon held November 10, announced Marathon Tours & Travel (http://marathontours.com/), a US-based niche travel agency and organizer of the Antarctica Marathon (http://marathontours.com/index.cfm/page/Antarctica-Marathon-and-Half-Marathon/pid/10734) and Seven Continents Club (http://www.sevencontinentsclub.com/).

Under sunny skies and temperatures that soared to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, Vinecki finished the historic Marathon-to-Athens course in 4 hours, 3 minutes, 53 seconds. Dawn Estelle, Winter’s mother, also finished the famed course in 6:23:36, making them the first mother-daughter team to finish marathons on all seven continents.

“This world record is not for me but for the one in six men and families affected by prostate cancer,” said Vinecki who set her seven 26.2s on seven continents goal in 2009 after her father passed away from an aggressive form of prostate cancer. As a 9-year-old, Vinecki founded Team Winter (http://us.mg3.mail.yahoo.com/dc/), a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the disease and funds for prostate cancer research,  “I could not of done this without the village of supporters that helped me and those people who believed in a 9-year-old girl’s dream. My run coach, Mark Hadley assured me that age and gender are not barriers. It took me five years to fulfill this dream. As my dad taught me, never give in. Never give in despite critics and people that say it can't be done.”

Vinecki had previously completed marathons in the United States, Kenya, Antarctica, Mongolia, Peru and New Zealand.  She placed second or third women overall in four of the marathons and won the women’s division outright at the grueling Inca Trail Marathon to Machu Picchu in Peru.

Last March Vinecki became the youngest person to finish a marathon on Antarctica, the coldest, windiest most formidable continent on earth. “I never doubted that Winter would finish her goal,” says Thom Gilligan, president of Marathon Tours & Travel, race director of the Antarctica Marathon and founder of the Seven Continents Club. “She is a tremendous athlete and a true inspiration to people of all ages.”

Gilligan created the Seven Continents Club in 1998 to recognize those who have finished marathons on all seven continents. Since then, 489 globetrotting runners have achieved the goal.

For more information on Marathon Tours & Travel, the Antarctica Marathon and the seven Continents Club, please visit www.marathontours.com. For more information on Team Winter, please visit www.teamwinter.org.