NEW YORK - American runner Daren Wendell just finished his 100 marathons in 100 days across America, but on the other side of the earth, China's ultra-marathoner Chen Penbin is on his way to take his 19th marathon of also 100 marathons in as many consecutive days on Tuesday.

Wendell, a 33-year-old, is running to raise money for clean drinking water for children in Ethiopia. Wendell started his run in Santa Monica, California and ended his cross country journey in in New York's Times Square on April 10, raising 130,000 dollars through his 2600-mile (4160 kilometers) long journey, surpassing his original goal of raising 100,000 dollars.

Wendell used more than 10 pairs of sneakers, accomplishing the journey with a Stryker T2 Nail in his right leg, which was surgically implanted following a severe injury in 2006.

Fisherman-turned ultra-marathoner Chen set his running distance at 4219kilometers. The 37-year-old Chinese completed the first 42.195km run in Guangzhou on April 2, partly accompanied by 2022 Winter Olympic bid ambassador and former NBA star Yao Ming.

On Tuesday, Chen took his 19th marathon in Xiamen, Fujian province, accompanied by China's Olympic champion boxer Zou Shiming.

Born in a small town in southern Zhejiang province, Chen had never imagined becoming a famous runner one day.

He joined his father's fishing business right after primary school and his biggest dream then was to "become a 'stockholder' to share the fish with other fishermen," recalled Chen, whose turning point was a stamina contest he participated in in 2000.

In 2014, after a 100km run in South Pole, Chen became the first to have run ultra-marathons in all seven continents.

Chen's planned route goes all the way through Fujian province, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, Tianjin to Beijing on July 10.