In 2010, an Irishman began running around the world; four years and roughly 50,000 km later, he finished a global route few runners had ever completed

Tony Mangan started the Dublin Marathon on October 25, 2010, kept running, and began a journey that would take him across five continents, six deserts and 41 countries before he returned to Dublin four years later. The World Runners Association records his completed route at 50,000 km over 1,461 days, and lists it as the longest circumnavigation of the Earth on foot under its records.The Dublin Marathon was only the starting pointMangan had spent years thinking about running around the world, and eventually turned the idea into what he called his “World Jog”, starting with the 2010 Dublin Marathon. He continued westward across Ireland to Dunquin, the westernmost point of the Dingle Peninsula, after completing the race.Mangan crossed North America, moved through Central and South America, continued through Australia and Asia, and eventually returned to Europe. The World Runners Association’s route record lists sections through Canada, the United States, Panama, Colombia, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia and Turkey before the final European leg back to Dublin. Mangan averaged roughly the equivalent of a marathon a day during the journey, and also travelled with a small running buggy called Nirvana, which carried equipment including clothing, food and camping gear.50,000 km across 41 countriesThe Irish Independent reported that he had already covered 50,000 km and crossed five continents, six deserts and 41 countries in September 2014. He had begun his return through Europe after completing the long sections across the Americas, Australasia and Asia.Mangan encountered extreme conditions along the way, including severe heat and cold, and his own account of the expedition describes dehydration in Mexico, temperatures that reached minus 30C in the United States and storms in Patagonia. He also ran across the Australian outback.The World Runners Association records that Mangan undertook the 50,000-km run for Aware, which is an Irish organisation working in the area of depression. The run therefore combined his long-standing ambition to circumnavigate the world with fundraising and public awareness.The final stretch became a race against the clockBy the time Mangan reached Europe, the expedition was already approaching its fourth year. He had accumulated tens of thousands of kilometres on the road, but the final distance still required him to keep running through Ireland before returning to the Dublin Marathon where the journey had begun.In September 2014, the Irish Independent reported that Mangan was completing the last part of his journey through Ireland after returning from abroad. He had already reached approximately 50,000 km, but continued running until the expedition formally ended with the Dublin Marathon. The final race gave the journey a fixed finishing point rather than ending somewhere along the road.On October 27, 2014, Mangan crossed the Dublin Marathon finish line in 6:08:30, completing the final stage of a journey that had started with the same race four years earlier. The Irish Independent reported that he had covered roughly 50,000 km by the time he finished.He finished where the journey beganMangan returned to Ireland in September 2014 and spent the final weeks completing a roughly 1,600-km circuit of the country. He then entered the Dublin Marathon on October 27, four years after the race that had started his world run.The Irish Independent reported that Mangan crossed the Dublin Marathon finish line in 6:08:30, and brought the journey to an end after approximately 50,000 km. The finish was not at the same point where he had first crossed the line in 2010 by accident; rather, it was deliberate, since Dublin had been both the beginning and the endpoint of the route. The World Runners Association currently lists the completed run at 50,000 km and 1,461 days and identifies Mangan as holding its longest-circumnavigation record.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.