Major International Marathon : Afowiri Fondzenyuy Slashes Own Record By Over An Hour

Afowiri Fondzenyuy finished this year’s Tokyo Marathon more than an hour faster than he did last year in the Sydney Marathon in Australia. Known as the “Toghu Marathoner,” he also earned the Abbott World Marathon Majors 6-Star medal after completing the 2024 Tokyo Marathon in four hours, 24 minutes, 2 seconds. This was over one hour faster than his 5 hours, 28 minutes and 33 seconds, finish time in the Sydney Marathon in 2023. 
Afowiri, who has participated 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, Afowiri said his joy could not be summarized in a sentence when he remembers how he started. Given that it was the fifth time he was running a marathon in Toghu, a heavily embroidered traditional outfit popular amongst people of the 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 is the main reason I ran this year,” Afowiri said. 
Afowiri themed the Tokyo Marathon, “Running to Build Bridges,” as he is raising money to help build new bridges for the people of Ngondzen in Bui Division the North West Region of Cameroon. He said people have been wonderful to donate, adding that completing the marathon and donation goals doubled his joy. 
“People have been responding and I appreciate that - people who don't know Ngondzen. They want to support what I'm doing and that's lovely… I appreciate every single one of them. We're calling on more people to support us so we can achieve our goal… I have great passion for education and these bridges will change a whole lot as children are completely cut off from schools when the rains come. You can imagine missin...