The World Marathon Majors strings together six of the world’s most epic marathons: Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City. This year, a camera crew followed along as three runners bagged all six 26.2 distances to earn a place in the Six Star Hall of Fame.
The three-part series is the first-ever WMM race production, and athletes Thomas Eller (Germany), Alexandria Williams (U.S.), and Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) will be the stars of the show.
World Marathon Majors chose an impressive trio of athletes to follow. In March, Eller became the world’s first deaf-born Six Star Finisher at the Tokyo Marathon. Stateside, Williams leads the Black Unicorns—a marathon group connecting “BIPOC runners who have BQ’d, previously run, or are registered to run the Boston Marathon.” Kawauchi, meanwhile, won the 2018 Boston Marathon in 2:15:58 in some of the most torrential conditions the race had ever seen.
Each episode will offer an inside look at the athletes training in their hometown and their attempts at the Six Star effort. “We wanted to go deeper than ever before with our storytelling through this series,” said Danny Coyle, WMM’s chief content officer. “There is a unique story behind every Six Star journey that underlines the personal struggle and sacrifice these runners make to get all the way to that moment they receive their medal.”
Coyle also shared his hope that the docuseries would inspire other runners to chase the Six Star goal and other racing goals. “In sharing these stories, we hope to inspire thousands more to start or continue their own journey,” he said. “We see through these three examples that the medal can mean as much to an elite athlete as it does to a back-of-the-pack six-hour runner.”
Eller’s story, released on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. ET, is the first launch of the series. You can view it on the World Marathon Majors’ YouTube channel and Facebook page. William’s story will be released on August 24th, with Yuki’s episode dropping close behind in early September.
Kells McPhillips is a health and wellness journalist living in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in Runner's World, The New York Times, Well+Good, Fortune, Shape, and others.
