Vaughan Runs Marathon for Every Letter of the Alphabet

Vaughan is running the Altra Yorkshire Marathon this October to continue his challenge of running a marathon for every letter of the alphabet.

Having started running at the age of 19 after joining the Hamilton Harrier Club in New Zealand (now known as the Hamilton City Hawks), Vaughan is still a member over 40 years later.

He ran his first marathon in 1979 in Honolulu, and the following year he ran the New York Marathon, and the Honolulu Marathon again only a few weeks later after travelling around the USA. In 1996, Vaughan also ran the 100th Boston Marathon, as well as the 25th Vancouver Marathon in the space of three weeks. He also came second in his age group running the Double at the 2022 Gold Coast Marathon, running the half marathon on the Saturday, and the full marathon on the Sunday.

It was five years ago that a friend told Vaughan about an article telling of a man who had run a marathon for every letter in the alphabet, and he realised that he had done 13 already.

Inspired by the idea, Vaughan is attempting to finish his list of marathons, running the Utrecht and Edinburgh Marathons in May, with Edinburgh being his 50th marathon.

So far Vaughan has run the: Auckland, Boston, Chicago, Dunedin, Edinburgh, Gold Coast, Honolulu, Jackson Hole, Gilbert, Long Beach, Manchester, New York, Odgen, Provo, Queenstown, Rotorua, Sydney, Taupo, Utrecht, Vancouver, Wellington, and Zurich marathons.

Running the Yorkshire Marathon for the letter Y, he hopes to complete X, F, and I next year to accomplish his challenge.