( CNN ) -- He already holds the honor of being the only person to complete 20 Iron Man triathlons in a single year , but now Belgian athlete Stefaan Engels has claimed another world record by running 365 marathons in as many days . Engels completed his year-long mission at the Carretera de les Aigues race in Barcelona on Saturday . The `` Marathon Man '' has covered a distance of 9,569 miles ( 15,401 kilometers ) since setting off from his home town of Ghent on February 5 , 2010 , participating in races in Spain , Portugal , Canada , Mexico , Britain and United States , as well as several in his native country . The 49-year-old has smashed the previous record of the most marathons run in one year , which according to the Guinness Book of World Records was held by 65-year-old Akinori Kusuda -- who ran 52 consecutive races in 2009 . But in a statement on his official website , the former graphic designer played down his amazing feat . `` I do n't regard my marathon year as torture . It is more like a regular job . I am running just as Joe Average goes to work on Monday morning , whether or not he feels like it , '' he said . `` I do n't always feel like running , but when I am done , I take a shower , have some physiotherapy for an hour , and that wraps up my day . '' Engels suffered from asthma as a child and was told he would never be able to do exercise . It was then that he decided he would start running the grueling 26.2-mile ( 42.195 kilometers ) discipline . He said he hopes to inspire others to take up exercise and has encouraged people to run marathons with him in the past .
Belgian runner sets new world record by running a marathon a day for the last year . Stefaan Engels has run 365 marathons covering 9,569 miles in seven countries . Comment: Engels already held the world record for finishing 20 Iron Man triathlons in one year .