27 years ago an ambitious project was embarked upon by 2 British entrepreneurs. The idea behind the project was to create the worlds highest marathon. After a 2 month trekking holiday in Nepal, Jan Turner and Tony Hunt decided the foothills of Everest would make the perfect location for the race. In early October 1987 Tony returned to Nepal to measure a 26.2 mile route from the Everest Base Camp (5184m) to end at Namche Bazzar. The Khumbu region had had the worst snows for 50 years, coinciding with the infamous hurricane that later hit the UK, the difficult conditions made the task of measuring the marathon route even harder taking a total of 2 weeks.

WasteCare Group, then known as Silver Lining Industries agreed to sponsor the event which helped ensure the marathon could go ahead as planned.

At the end of November 1987, 42 runners completed the distance, the winning time was 4 hrs 53mins by British, Stewart Duffield. The event got an entry in the Guinness Book of Records under the ‘World’s Highest Marathon’.

The marathon is still run every 18months with the Nepalese dominating and times now under 4 hours.