A runner from Tenerife ran the Sydney Marathon shoulder to shoulder with Kipchoge.

March 2024. Iván Martín finished the Tokyo Marathon and became the first resident of Tenerife to complete all six of the world's most prestigious marathons (also known as the "Majors"). He says that after the finish, he felt a kind of "emptiness," but the cookie maker wasn't sad because he knew Sydney was ahead. The Australian capital very much wanted its marathon to join the elite, and in 2025 it succeeded.

In the meantime, Martín was clocking up kilometers... and hours on planes. "I thought I would run less, but it turned out the opposite. It was a kind of frenzy! After that, I ran Valencia, Dubai, Marrakesh, and Madrid, and at the end of the year I'm planning New York," Iván says happily.

He smiles because he has just arrived on the island after almost 40 hours of travel (Sydney – Hong Kong – Amsterdam – Tenerife). This driving instructor, who runs marathons in his spare time, proudly says that he had the best experience of his life in Sydney. And not only because he finished with a time of 2:49'44'', becoming 28th in his category. And not because he already has seven "Majors." And not even because he now knows for sure that he is the first from the Canary Islands to have run all the "Majors." On August 31, 2025, Iván Martín won even before the start. He did it when he stood on the line and looked to the left. Next to him were Sifan Hassan (who eventually won the women's race), the Ethiopian Hailemariam Kiros, and the legendary Eliud Kipchoge, who many consider to be the best marathon runner in history.

"I told my physiotherapist: "Dani, I was standing there at the start, looking one way, then the other, and I felt like I was in the Champions League final, with Messi on one side and Ronaldo on the other. All the "Majors" are incredible, but what I experienced in this race... I got goosebumps, and I hadn't even started yet," recalls the excited runner from Tenerife.

This happy story (or, in this case, the beginning) has an interesting background. They say: "What's yours, no one will take away, and what's not yours, you won't get." There are situations that cannot be explained otherwise. Martín knew that he would go to Sydney as soon as his participation in the "Major" was officially confirmed, but he didn't know when exactly. "I registered for the lottery, but I wasn't lucky. The alternative was to qualify by time. In Valencia, I ran in 2:43'08'' and applied with this result. I was passing the minimum selection, but there was a risk that there would be many better results, and I would be left out because the places were limited. Something like a competition," he says.

To his surprise, and to the joy of the story, Iván was selected and flew to Australia. There, because he qualified based on his athletic achievements, he was treated "like an elite runner." The "chosen" group, to which he belonged (about 50-60 runners out of more than 35,000 registered participants), waited in a special place and did not have to stand in "boxes" (this is how participants are distributed in mass races, where everyone cannot start at the same time). "Everything was different. A pavilion for us, drinks, comfort... We walked past the "corrals" and stood in the first row. That's when I realized what was happening. I met a guy from Huesca, and we looked at each other, amazed, because it was like in a movie. He said: "We have to enjoy the moment." And I enjoyed it."

It was then, standing on that same line, that Kipchoge and company appeared. The Kenyan is already 40, he is not interested in winning against athletes who are half his age, but he is a living legend. When Martín saw him come and warm up a few meters away, he thought that this group of aliens would start first, but no. They crossed the line and took a few steps back to stand next to him. Only a few centimeters away. "You don't know whether to run next to them or just sit down and applaud," he recalls now with excitement.

His nerves didn't fail him: he managed to get his phone out to capture the moment... and then he ran. He ran very fast. It was 42 kilometers and 195 meters of history. The story of the first resident of the Canary Islands to run seven "Majors," and, perhaps most importantly, the first to run next to the legend Eliud Kipchoge. "There were 14 of us Spaniards who had already run the other six, and I finished third. There is a guy from Gran Canaria who also did it, but it took him more than four hours, so yes, this time I can say with certainty that I was the first," Martín concludes and laughs.