Tameside woman completes 100 marathons in 100 days

A woman from Greater Manchester has completed 100 marathons in 100 days across South Asia in her father's memory.

After his death, 41-year-old Hannah Cox from Tameside decided to explore her dad's home country of India by travelling a 4,200km (2,548 mile) route known as the Inland Customs Line.

Originally she had planned to go by car - but after starting running in May 2025, she decided to run the route instead, by completing a marathon a day for 100 consecutive days.

After crossing the finish line on Monday, Hannah said she was "feeling great" and told BBC Radio Manchester: "I've never been a runner - I think mostly people who know me can't believe I've done it!"

"Running through India, as you can imagine, is an absolute overload of the senses," Hannah said.

"You've got to have your wits about you every day.

"The scenery is different, the traffic's different, and I'm trying to keep to a route - but also my body feels different every day."

Reflecting on the physical aspect of the challenge, Hannah admitted it had not been painless.

She said she had completed the expedition while managing scoliosis and an autoimmune disease, and ran a full week of marathons while suffering from acute gastroenteritis.

"I've been in a horrendous amount of pain the last three days," she explained.

"But I'm actually feeling really good - I think it might be adrenaline though!

"I'm pretty badly injured on my left leg so I'm gonna go to the hospital tomorrow.

"But yeah, I'm feeling good - glad not to be running today!"

Hannah's journey was inspired by her late father, Deric Cox, who was born in the city then known as Calcutta (now Kolkata) before moving to the UK in 1953.

She wanted to uncover and share aspects of her own heritage, as a descendant of Anglo-Indian ancestors - some of whom worked for the British East India Company.

She said: "I wanted to connect a little bit with a country that I could trace my family back to 1799 from.

"So I heard about something called the Inland Customs Line, which was a big customs line that ran through the country during the British Empire.

"I realised there wasn't a lot about it on the internet; no-one had ever travelled the length of it."

Hannah first researched the historic route in 2014, and 12 years later she believes she is the first person to complete the feat.

"To achieve a world first and raise a lot of money for charity feels amazing," she said.

Project Salt Run has so far raised more than £75,000 for various environmental charities.

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