Robert Garside

Robert Garside, born 6 January 1967 and calling himself The Runningman, is a British runner who is credited by Guinness World Records as the first person to run around the world. He began his record-setting run after two aborted attempts from Cape Town and London, setting off from New Delhi on 20 October 1997 and completing it at the same point on 13 June 2003. His run was challenged by some ultra distance runners and members of the press, and later publications clarified points such as anomalies in his online diary and his running of the Nullarbor plain without a support crew, which he managed with help from passing traffic and local people. Trailrunner senior editor Monique Cole said he had clearly run more of the world than anyone else, and the media critic Dan Koeppel became convinced by 2005 that Garside had run around the world.