New Zealand lawyer sets incredible new world record with 500 ultramarathons in 500 days

New Zealand lawyer Shannon-Leigh Litt has continued to extend the world record for the number of ultramarathons run in consecutive days to 500 – completing her latest goal with a 52km run in Whangārei.

The 46-year-old’s journey began on January 1 2024, where her goal was simply to run an ultramarathon of 50km or more for as many consecutive days as she could. She surpassed Candice Burt’s 200 consecutive days world record in July that year, however her record won’t become official until she has completed her journey – which is not currently at an end.

She completed her 500th ultramarathon on Thursday 15 May, 2025, and has ambitions of achieving at least 603 – the current world record for consecutive days by a man running a marathon (42.2km).

Not yet an Official World Record

Litt is currently 300 days past the world record mark, but she can not officially declare herself a world record holder until she submits the necessary paperwork to Guinness World Records.

She posted on Instagram when surpassing the 200-day mark: “I won’t say it’s an official world record until all of the paper work, over 200 witnesses, log book and footage is all submitted and I can only do that when I finish running 51km a day.”

She spoke to New Zealand website Stuff about her journey following her 500th ultra-marathon, admitting the last few months have been some of the most challenging of her journey to date.

“The last couple of months have been pretty tough emotionally. I’ve gone through more life changes in the past 500 days than I have in the last decade,” she said.

“But I’ve come through it feeling good. This whole experience has changed me – I feel more connected to people and it’s made me grow.”

Litt admitted that she does have an end goal in sight for the campaign, but is yet to reveal it to anyone. She has, however, made sure that she has complied with the Guinness World Record regulations – including filming at least 15 minutes of each run, capturing her GPS data, supplying two daily witness statements and taking up to 20 photos per run.

Combining work with pleasure

Many would suspect that a challenge such as the one Litt is achieving could only be done with full focus on the task at hand. However, the runners is continuing to work full-time as a criminal defence lawyer in her home country.

She has juggled her court duties by embracing technology – using mobile applications that translate legal papers into audio so she can listen to documents as she runs.

“It’s artificial intelligence that lets me upload files and listen while I run,” she told the NZ publication. “That’s really helped me keep up with work.”