Australian woman's record-breaking run from continent's 'tip to toe'

Five months aft mounting retired from the extremity of Australia, marathon runner Erchana Murray-Bartlett has reached the country's confederate edge.

The 32-year-old connected Monday finished her 6,300km (3,900 miles) travel - a marathon each time for 150 days.

Ms Murray-Bartlett's effort sets a caller satellite grounds for the astir consecutive regular marathons by a woman.

And she has raised implicit A$100,000 (£57,000, $70,000) for conservation foundation the Wilderness Society.

Ms Murray-Bartlett has been moving professionally for years, but aft missing retired connected qualifying for Tokyo Olympics, she acceptable her sights connected different life-long dream.

She was going to tally the full magnitude of Australia, and she was going to interruption the grounds for the astir consecutive regular marathons by a pistillate - held by Briton Kate Jayden, who past twelvemonth completed 106 successful arsenic galore days.

Ms Murray-Bartlett acceptable retired connected the tally to rise consciousness of the extinction situation facing Australian animals and plants. Australia is location to immoderate of the richest biodiversity successful the satellite - overmuch of which is unsocial to the continent - but it is among the worst successful the satellite for biodiversity loss.

It was pugnacious going for Ms Murray-Bartlett from the opening - she had 3 injuries successful the archetypal 3 weeks.

But her assemblage learned to header arsenic she coiled her mode on Australia's celebrated coastline, done rainforests, and down some ungraded roads and highways. She sometimes ran successful torrential rain, different times successful vigor upwards of 35C (95F).

"It's overwhelming, I'm truthful stoked," she told section media aft crossing the finishing enactment successful Melbourne.

"The turnout has been phenomenal and the information that everyone was moving with me, it made it adjacent much special."

Despite consuming betwixt 5,000 and 6,000 calories a time - astir 3 times the mean woman's needs - the nutritionist shed weight.

She suffered sunburn, blisters and aches, and jokes that she's present been bitten by each insect nether the prima - ants, mosquitos, spiders and more.

She weathered changeless encephalon fog and a pervasive assemblage fatigue she says got harder and harder to shingle each morning.

And by the clip she ran into Melbourne, her feet had swollen an full footwear size and she'd burned done 10 pairs of runners.

She crossed the decorativeness enactment to quality she had raised astir doubled her archetypal fundraising target.

Speaking to section existent affairs programme The Project, Ms Murray-Bartlett said she had been overwhelmed by the support.

"I deliberation it's gonna beryllium a large nighttime of celebrations - well, a large 2 hours until I autumn dormant anyway."