A physical education teacher from Essex, U.K., was looking for a challenge to continue her lifelong fundraising efforts for Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and stumbled upon the PolarNight Marathon in one of Norway’s northernmost cities. Gill Punt, 54, took on the polar challenge earlier this month, raised two million dollars for charity and set a new Guinness World Record.
#Bromsgrove‘s Gill Punt endured freezing conditions and only two hours of daylight, running for Cancer Research UK, in what was a Guinness World Record attempt.
Hear more pic.twitter.com/8kxYn7HZSJ
— BBC Hereford & Worcester (@bbchw) January 10, 2025
Punt told BBC Hereford & Worcester that her motivation for taking on the Arctic marathon was to try something she had never done before. She shared that she has completed 26 marathons and 70 half marathons, but the race would be a “first” for her, as she had never run a marathon wearing ice spikes or a polar bear costume.
As the name suggests, the PolarNight Marathon is a challenging race in one of the northernmost cities in the world, Tromsø, Norway. The race is run entirely in darkness and traverses mountain passes, with runners having to deal with temperatures from -10 to -15 C. The polar bear costume represents the official mascot of CRUK.
Punt finished the 42.2km race in four hours, 58 minutes, and 29 seconds, breaking the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon dressed as a mammal (female). This is the second world record Punt has set in her marathon career. In 2016, at the London Marathon, she set a Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon in a full-body animal costume (female) with a time of 4:21:08; however, this record was later broken by another runner.
On Saturday 4th January 2025, Mrs Gill Punt conquered the Polar Night Marathon in the Norwegian Arctic Circle and raised over £20k for @CR_UK.
The run took place in darkness, on ice and dressed in a polar bear costume – and she still achieved a Guinness World Record. pic.twitter.com/lEPcPY9hCD
— Bromsgrove School (@BromsSchool) January 9, 2025
Punt began running in 1999 after losing her dad, who was 56, to bile duct cancer. The next year, Punt started her fundraising efforts for CRUK and has since raised more than two million dollars for the charity. “There is probably not a family in the UK or the entire world that has not been affected by this dreadful disease,” Punt told the BBC. “So I will continue doing all I can to support CRUK in their vital work.”
