For six straight days, while the rest of the world went about its business—commuting to work, scrolling through phones, sleeping—Megan Eckert just kept running.
And running.
And running.
When the clock finally stopped at noon on Sunday, May 4, in a quiet campground loop in Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, France, the 38-year-old high school teacher and coach from New Mexico had done something no woman ever had: she ran 603.156 miles (970.685 km) in six days.
That’s more than 100 miles a day, for six days straight.
Rewriting the Record Books
Eckert’s performance at the 2025 GOMU 6-Day World Championship shattered the previous women’s six-day world record of 560.33 miles, set by Camille Herron in 2024.
She didn’t just break it…she obliterated it by over 42 miles. Her final tally also came within 3 miles of the men’s American six-day record, held by Joe Fejes.
And it wasn’t even close to a fluke.
“I didn’t know I was going to break the world record,” Eckert said after the finish. “I just wanted to get to 600 miles.”
Spoiler: she got there with time to spare.
How She Did It
Eckert’s success was grounded in strategy. Unlike Herron—whose 2024 run started fast and faded late—Eckert stayed consistent from start to finish.
With her husband crewing, she took two major breaks daily, around noon and midnight, and two shorter rest stops. She never pushed too hard too early, and by day three, she’d clocked over 323 miles. By hour 108, she’d closed the gap on Herron’s pace.
From there, she just kept widening it.
Her average speed? 4.12 miles per hour, including all food, sleep, and bathroom breaks. That’s the equivalent of running a sub-15-minute mile around the clock—for six days.
She now holds not just the women’s six-day world record but also the women’s backyard ultra world record (362 miles at Big Dog’s in 2024), and she won her first-ever six-day race last year with 526 miles.
This, though? This was on another level.
The Camille Herron Shadow
The race also reopened conversations around Camille Herron, the former record holder and one of ultrarunning’s most polarizing figures.
After her 2024 record at Lululemon’s “Further” event, Herron was dropped by the brand amid reported tensions and scrutiny over her pacing. She’s been criticized within the community for allegedly interfering in the ratification of other runners’ records, particularly those that surpassed hers.
More recently, she’s been linked to a Wikipedia edit controversy, where IP addresses tied to her circle reportedly scrubbed negative references from her page while boosting self-promotional content. No formal sanctions followed, but the episode left many in the ultrarunning world raising eyebrows.
Now, Herron is reportedly headed to Japan for another six-day attempt—one likely aimed at reclaiming both her record and narrative. Whether she succeeds or not, her presence ensures the conversation is never just about the running.
Zaborsky Nails the Men’s Record
On the men’s side, Russia’s Ivan Zaborsky clocked 650.919 miles (1,047.554 km), besting the previous record by just over a mile. He paced aggressively early on, staying a few miles ahead of record splits, but nearly lost it around hour 118. A late surge in the final 24 hours sealed the deal.
Zaborsky’s background includes wins at the 304-mile Phidippides Run in Greece and several 24- and 48-hour races. This was his first six-day effort, and it landed him in the record books.
