Why cellists make good marathon runners

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French cellist Gautier Capuçon recently completed all 26.2 miles/42.2km of the marathon course at the 2024 Paris Olympics, when he took part in the public-participation ‘Marathon Pour Tous’ event on the night of 10-11 August, but he’s not the only string player to favour running long distances.

We take a look at some of the other marathon-running string players, many of whom find the discipline and preparation required to train for running long distances and for life as a professional string player have much in common. 

Fastest of them all is 25-year-old German–American cellist Aaron Gruen. His marathon time of 2 hours 15 minutes and 56 seconds puts him in the elite athlete category and he was fast enough to qualify for the Olympic trials earlier in 2024. He studied cello at Brown University and at the Prague Conservatory. 

Austin Huntington, 29, is principal cellist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and a regular marathon runner. He said in a recent interview: ‘I find so many similarities with marathon running and playing – from the mental strength and clarity needed, even when things are not going well – to the dedication and consistency needed on a daily and hourly basis.’ 

Anthony Arnone, a professional cellist and teacher at the University of Iowa, is a keen triathlete and in 2016 performed the double whammy of running a marathon and playing the Dvořák Concerto on the same day. ‘I was willing to bet no one, not even Yo-Yo Ma, had played the Dvořák after running a marathon’ he told Strings magazine. 

David Gerstein is the principal cellist of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. ‘I have completed four full marathons, six half marathons, five 10Ks, one five-miler, nine 5Ks, four sprint triathlons, one Olympic triathlon, and the Dopey Challenge,’ he says on his blog. ‘This is where classical music and athletics meet.’ 

In 2012 a group calling themselves Extreme Cello, comprising cellists Clare Wallace, James Reece and Jeremy Dawson, successfully completed the London Marathon carrying their cellos on their backs – an additional 6kg per person. They have also run half marathons and hiked across the UK and have raised more than £55,000 for charity with their extreme cellistic endeavours. The trio celebrated their 20th anniversary of ‘extreme celling’ in 2023. 

Running extremely long distances is not only the preserve of cellists, however. In 2012, Lucy J. Morgan, a violinist with iconic rock band Dexys Midnight Runners, appropriately enough ran a 50-mile ultra marathon (and was the third woman to finish) to raise money for a friend with cancer. 

Both double bassist Leon Bosch and Krzysztof Chorzelski, violist with the Belcea Quartet, completed the London Marathon in 2019. 

And last but not least is violist Alistair Rutherford, also known as The Running Viola. He currently holds Guinness World Records for the fastest marathon and the fastest half marathon dressed as a musical instrument.

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