"Audrey is officially the fastest stoma in the world", Adele Roberts posted soon after she had set a new Guinness World Record (GWR) by running the fastest aggregate time to complete the seven World Marathon Major races with a stoma (female) in 23 hours, 53 minutes, 44 seconds. And in praise of how 'Audrey' behaved on the challenge, she added: "She’s my little love and the whole reason I’m alive…and the reason I’m able to run. I am so grateful for her."

'Audrey' is the affectionate pet name given to Adele's life-saving stoma that was necessary following her diagnosis with stage 2 bowel cancer in October 2021. Since then, she has been bravely raising ostomy visibility and awareness of bowel cancer symptoms by smashing marathon running records while removing any remaining taboo around using a stoma.

Adele (46) is a multi-award-winning British broadcaster, reality TV personality, author, and DJ. Born in Southport in March 1979, she is probably best known for her work on BBC Radio 1 from 2015 to 2023. During her tenure with the BBC, she underwent major bowel resection surgery to remove a tumour, a six-month course of oral chemotherapy, and ileostomy surgery to install 'Audrey'.

Adele's running career began with charity appearances in the London Marathon. In 2017 (3:36:31) and 2018 (3:30:38), she ran for Heads Together. In 2023, running in aid of the Attitude Magazine Foundation, she set a GWR for the fastest woman to run a marathon with a stoma (3:30:22).

Having got a taste for setting world records, Adele (and 'Audrey') set about the challenge of running all seven Abbott World Marathon Majors (AWMM) in Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York, and the newly minted seventh AWMM event in Sydney – with astonishing consistency.

Adele's seven GWR qualifying marathons were run in times between 3:20:53 (2024 Berlin – PB) and 3:30:22 (2023 London). She finished with a sprint in Sydney on Sunday, 31 August 2025, running exactly 3:24:00 for 4,182nd place among the 32,966 finishers!

In her post announcing the end of the challenge, Adele said: "I truly hope that if you’re going through a tough time – you can see that sometimes the thing you think would break you…is actually the moment where you rise up and it becomes the making of you."

Photo courtesy of Adele Roberts on Facebook