From Never Run Before to 100 Marathons in 100 Days: Hannah Cox's Extraordinary Indian Journey

British Runner Completes Unprecedented Century Challenge Across India in Honour of Late Father

Hannah Cox's worn-out trainers, patched together with scraps of car tyre and caked in orange dust, bear the physical marks of an extraordinary feat. The 41-year-old has just completed what few would dare attempt: running 100 consecutive marathons over 100 days across India, all without any running experience just 18 months prior.

While thousands of participants in London's marathon were nursing sore legs and swearing off distance running, Cox had already conquered a challenge of epic proportions - covering approximately 2,620 miles across one of the world's most demanding landscapes.

A Personal Mission Takes Shape

The journey began as a personal obsession with her Indian heritage following her father Deric's death in 2011. Cox became increasingly drawn to a historic 4,200-kilometre route that the British had used during the 19th century to implement a controversial salt tax across colonial India, a path that included the legendary Great Hedge of India.

When a friend casually suggested during a summer 2024 meeting that she should run the route rather than simply travel it, the idea took root. By autumn, Cox had joined a Manchester running club and was training rigorously. What began as 30-minute sessions three times weekly evolved into structured endurance challenges, including running 20 kilometres daily for 20 consecutive weekdays and completing seven marathons across the UK in seven days.

The Challenge Begins

On 26 October 2023, Cox departed from the Attari-Wagah border between Pakistan and India, heading towards Kolkata, near where her father was born. She quit her job, assembled a four-person support team, acquired a van, and committed to raising £1 million for environmental charities through her endeavour.

The roads presented relentless challenges. Route selection meant some days involved tedious 42-kilometre stretches along highways, while others wound through nature reserves, alongside canals, and across farmland. Wildlife encounters were constant and dangerous - cows, snakes, and goats frequently blocked her path, while drivers often travelled on the wrong side of the road. A motorbike collision left her with a permanent scar on her right leg, and certain regions required police escorts due to fatal tiger attack incidents.

Environmental conditions proved equally brutal. The heat, dust, and smog tested her despite spending two weeks in a heat chamber beforehand to acclimatise. Sickness plagued the entire journey, causing her to lose more than 10 kilograms.

An Unexpected Celebrity Encounter

On day 24, Cox met billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson at the Taj Mahal, where he was hosting a charity cycling event. What appeared glamorous proved uncomfortable - she became severely ill after declining an Old Fashioned cocktail at an upscale hotel and had to run to lavish bathrooms. The following day, despite battling illness all along the roadside, five members of Branson's charity group joined her for a marathon run.

Cox maintains this celebrity moment represented only a tiny fraction of her broader mission. "The grassroots nature and community aspect" proved crucial to the project's success, she emphasises, noting that the Branson story overshadowed the genuine human connections that sustained her throughout.

Daily Survival and Recovery Routine

Cox adopted a disciplined regimen: rising early to complete miles before peak temperatures, consuming litres of electrolyte-enhanced fluids, and following a simple pattern of eating, running 15 kilometres, eating again, running another 15 kilometres, eating once more, then running a final 12 kilometres before sleeping.

Breakfast typically consisted of porridge with bananas and peanut butter. Lunch was "usually a massive plate of rice with marmite and two eggs, or cheesy fried potatoes with eggs and vegetables." Snacks included cashews and almonds between checkpoints, while dinners featured curry, rice, eggs, roti, crisps, and chocolate for additional calories.

The support van provided mobile accommodation, parked nightly beside roads or at petrol stations. Every ten days, the team treated themselves to budget hotel stays for hot showers and privacy. Otherwise, cold showers at petrol station forecourts and weekly hair washes in the van's freezing shower sufficed. Running kit was rinsed under cold taps at forecourts.

Feet That Tell No Tales

Most people expect horror stories about feet and toenails. Cox's feet, however, remained remarkably healthy - a testament to her dedicated podiatrist support team member. She cycled through three pairs of trainers throughout the challenge, extending their lifespan through resourceful roadside repairs, including the improvised car tyre patch visible on her current pair.

Her finances proved less resilient. Cox took personal loans to fund the expedition, renegotiating terms while sitting beside Indian roads as funds depleted faster than anticipated. She continues fundraising efforts, determined to reach her £1 million target for four environmental and social impact charities.

UK Marathons Proved More Daunting

Following her Indian completion, Cox tackled the Brighton Marathon in early April before conquering London's marathon the following weekend. Paradoxically, these structured city events intimidated her far more than the Indian wilderness.

"I was nervous because it's a performance space with people doing a marathon who are worried about their time," she explains. "That's never really been my thing. In India it was me out with my friends, with a really core mission. Brighton and London are two things I'm doing on my own."

She employed her proven methodology of alternating 15-kilometre running segments with eating breaks to complete both races.

A Late Love Letter

Reflecting on the entire project, Cox describes it as something she didn't consciously choose but felt compelled to complete. "The universe was like, 'you're doing this'," she says.

"I had a complicated relationship with my dad. Project Salt Run felt like a very, very late love letter to him."