Seven days. Seven continents. One historic goal for Pembroke Pines nonprofit leader
Michael Sayih and Max Fink had run out of things to tack onto their bucket lists.
It’s hard to top becoming the youngest running duo to complete the six World Marathon Majors while pushing a wheelchair.
The same goes for completing an Ironman triathlon in Mexico, paddle board crossings in the Bahamas and heading a Pembroke Pines nonprofit for people with disabilities while having cerebral palsy, the brain disorder 33-year-old Sayih was born with that affects his mobility and requires him to use a wheelchair.
“After we broke the world record [in March 2025], then, ‘What was the next evolution of that?’” Fink, a 34-year-old Miami real estate executive, told the Pembroke Pines News about how the pair landed on their next goal.
Their answer? Becoming the first wheelchair running duo to complete The Great World Race, also known as the “777” — seven marathons in seven days across seven continents.
“We’re always trying to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone,” Fink said.
“Michael is such a massive inspiration for that. I think many people dealt the cards that he was in life would just give up and live a life without any activity or experience or meaningfulness. ... I mean, look at what he’s done.”
‘The beginning of something big’
Fink and Sayih are well-versed in the challenges duo teams face when running long-distance events tailored to able-bodied participants.
Aside from staying in shape to finish the course, pushers must factor in the added weight and needs of those they’re pushing.
That can include bathroom and hydration breaks, accounting for how weather might affect equipment or dress, and ensuring riders are comfortably positioned while racing.
Then there’s the chair.
Sayih races buckled into the Axiom Arrow, a custom-built $10,000 race chair by mobility aids manufacturer Adaptive Star that can convert into a bicycle trailer and adjust to a racer’s positioning needs.
Traveling with the Axiom Arrow means unexpected pit stops to tune up the chair or fix parts that break down, a scenario that often plays out when retrieving the chair from a plane’s cargo hold, according to Fink.
“When we ran this last New York (City) Marathon ... we had to go find a bike store because the wheel was bent. ... Honestly, I can’t even fathom the amount of things that have happened in Michael’s life where he’s had to deal with things like that, not just racing,” Fink said.
Finishing The Great World Race is a physical marvel in and of itself, with or without pushing a racer in a chair.
Only 83 runners have taken on the challenge since it launched in 2024 and have done so while braving jet lag, unpredictable temperatures, shifting climates and foreign trails.
A ticket in is also steep — approximately $57,000 per person to cover the costs of charter flights, lodging, race fees, food and medical insurance — with Fink and Sayih able to enter through the support of donors.
But complications skyrocket when factoring in The Great World Race’s first marathon, a 26.2-mile trek through Wolf’s Fang, Antarctica.
If they complete the run, the pair would become the first wheelchair duo to run a marathon on the White Continent.
Sayih’s chair will be outfitted with skis to fit the marathon’s glacial terrain, and to make up for South Florida’s lack of snow, Fink has considered training on sand, turf and ice rinks.
Sayih’s father Jim — the founder and CEO of Sayih’s nonprofit, Special Compass — and family friend Michael Dvorkin will also run alongside the duo with a backup chair and spare parts as a failsafe throughout the week-long race, which also runs through South Africa, Australia, Abu Dhabi, Portugal, Colombia and Miami from Nov. 15-21.
“It could be the beginning of something big for (The Great World Race) because there are other people like Michael and Max all over the world,” said Jim Sayih, who’s also a veteran Air Force sergeant, retired Miami police lieutenant and former gym owner.
“It’s just a matter of them exposing this, and I can see other people following our lead.”
‘Who’s a better example than Michael?’
Physical demand aside, Fink holds that The Great World Race is “a mentality game more than anything else.”
The real win isn’t running 183.4 miles in a week, but aiming for a goal most would discourage Sayih or Fink’s late mom — whose 13-year battle with breast cancer inspired Fink to pick up running — from setting in the first place.
“Who’s a better example than Michael?” Fink said.
“He can wake up every day and choose to sit in his chair and not do anything, and he chooses to go out every day and live a life of fulfillment. If you can’t use that to push through some running ... I mean, what is running compared to that?”
To power through all seven marathons, the racing duo, Sayih and Dvorkin say they’re relying on two objectives.
One is seeing supporters and loved ones cheering them on at the finish line in South Beach, just miles from Fink and Dvorkin’s Miami Beach and Key Biscayne homes.
The other is advocating for athlete inclusivity and “breaking down the barriers” those with disabilities have been boxed into, Jim Sayih says.
“When you see somebody like Michael participating in a race, those who see people differently start to become more welcoming,” he said.
“They’re different, but they still have a personality. They still have purpose. They still have goals. Michael being a part of it is just going to open up more eyes for athletes like him.”
