(Sports Focus) China's ultra-marathon runner completes 100 marathons in 100 days (updated)

China's star ultra-marathon runner Chen Penbin completed his last run of the 100-marathon-in-100-day campaign in Beijing on Friday.

"We can achieve what we want!" Chen yelled as he crossed the finish line outside Beijing's MasterCard Center, formerly known as the Wukesong Stadium.

Running 4219.5km in 100 days, Chen wants to demonstrate that persistence is the only way to success.

"Persistence is what has continued to push me forward. I'm really happy that I can achieve this. Some said I'm a stubborn man by doing this - it's not a good word to describe a person. But I do believe that if you want to do something great, you have to be stubborn, to be persistent," said the 37-year-old man, who formerly was a fisherman.

Chen started his journey from Guangzhou on April 2, and ran all the way through Fujian, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, Tianjin until he arrived at the final stop of Beijing.

Last year, He made his fame by running 100km in the South Pole, becoming the first runner to compete in ultra-marathon in all seven continents.

"Both 'seven continents' and '100-day' are my milestones, only after bitter challenges can you really taste what is sweet," Chen said.

From an unknown fisherman to a sensation, Chen has been going through a lot. In order to ease off the burden for his family, he went into fishing business right after graduation from primary school.

However, a competition became a turning point, changing the direction of his life.

"I finished first with 438 push-ups in the competition, and from then on, I started to take part in all kinds of competitions and I found my edge in stamina," he said.

In 2009, Chen came to realize that competition was not only about money after accomplishing an endurance race.

"I saw the Chinese national flag flying from the hotel as soon as I arrived there which touched me a lot, and I came up with an idea to race in all seven continents representing my country."

By running 100 marathons, Chen also looks forward to making his own contributions to Beijing's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

"I hope Beijing can win the bid finally, all the Chinese are looking forward to the Winter Olympics," said Chen, who ran in the past 100 days wearing a shirt with a "Beijing 2022" logo on chest and helped collect followers' signatures for Beijing's bid.

"By running marathon, I hope more Chinese people can get involved in sports and do sports for their health. I saw people run after me in every marathon in the past 100 days, I believe I can inspire more."

"I ran all the way from south China to north, I saw beautiful views, and I saw terrible pollution. One day when I ran at Zhangjiakou's Chongli, I saw blue sky and white clouds. I finally realized why I'm running for Beijing 2022, it's because I want to keep this beautiful sky for ever!" Endi