Afowiri Fondzenyuy finished the Tokyo Marathon more than an hour faster than he did last year in Sydney, Australia.
Known as the Toghu Marathoner, he also earned the Abbott World Marathon Majors 6-Star medal after completing the 2024 Tokyo Marathon in 4 hours, 24 minutes, 2 seconds, over one hour faster than his 5 hours, 28 minutes and 33 seconds, finish time in the Sydney Marathon last year.
Afowiri, who has been involved in 17 marathons across four continents, earned the 6-Star Majors Medal after previously completing the New York, Chicago, Berlin, London and Boston Marathons.
The Cameroonian born charity runner, participates in Marathons to raise money for school children especially around the world.
He has also raised funds to help Ebola victims, autism research, building of schools and other research.
After completing the Tokyo Marathon, he said that his joy cannot be put together in a sentence when he remembers how he started, with that being the fifth time he will be running a marathon in Toghu, an outfit known to the people of North-West Region of Cameroon.
“Running in Toghu is like carrying the weight of my people, family, friends and donors”
“It is a collective identity that I am selling to the world, but the most important thing is the main reason I am running this year”, he said.
Afowiri themed the Tokyo Marathon with Running to Build Bridges as he is raising money to help build new bridges for the people of Ngondzen in the North West region of Cameroon.
He said that people have been wonderful to donate, adding completing the marathon and donation goals doubles his joy.
“People have been responding and I appreciate that. People who don’t care if they know Ngondzen or not. They want to support what I’m doing and that’s lovely”
“I appreciate every single one of you and we’re calling on more people to support us so we can achieve our goal”
“I have great passion for education and this bridge will change a whole as children are completely cut off from schools when the rain comes. You can imagine missing almost a whole season in school because of a bad bridge, that is why I am doing it”
“I can already see the joy and impact when the bridges are commissioned. I can imagine how it will change the lives of farmers, traders and most importantly, school children”, he said.
Beyond the courses and Abbott Medal Afowiri is also chasing his Guinness World Record as the fastest man to run a marathon in Toghu.
He said that Tokyo came with a different experience because it had more expectations.
“I had to run through pains, illness and other issues to prepare for this. It’s a new continent with amazing culture and I had more things to run for this time”
“I’m glad in the end I’m a 6-Star Marathoner. I love the progress we’re making with funds for the bridges and hopefully the records will be icing on the cake we already made” he said.
Afowiri Fondzenyuy has now run marathons in Europe, America, Australia and Asia. He said that while he wants to keep running as long as his legs can carry him, Antarctica will be his next likely destination.
