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Brazilian Julio Mamute completed the 10K Cursa Bombers race in Barcelona on Sunday, Nov. 8, finishing 13,329th among 13,331 participants in 2 hours, 5 minutes.
Mamute, whose full name is Julio Otavio Miranda da Silva, weighed more than 310 kilograms (683 pounds) at his heaviest and couldn't leave his bed for nearly two years.
He has since lost more than 120 kilograms and shares his story with millions of social media followers while racing in different countries. Describing his past in an interview with the newspaper Marca, he said, “I was not living, I was only alive.”
Mamute grew up in Recife, where he said he was active as a child, swimming and playing in the street. He began gaining weight at 11 or 12 and weighed between 150 and 180 kg by age 18.
He gained and lost weight several times as an adult, but the main turning point came during the pandemic.
In the month quarantine began, his relationship ended and he withdrew to his home. He ordered food from outside constantly and spent most of the day in bed.
Within two years, he gained more than 100 kg. Walking, climbing stairs and even showering became difficult, and he used a respiratory support device at night.
The change began on Nov. 13, 2023, his 33rd birthday. Only his mother visited him that day. His sister’s son, expected three weeks later, was also born that day, at the same hour as Mamute himself.
Mamute saw the coincidence as a sign. A few days later, he went to meet the baby and give him a teddy bear as a first gift, but he couldn't get out of the car at his sister’s home because he struggled to move.
The episode led him to decide to change his life, aiming not only to lose weight but to take part in his own life again.
Walking was initially a struggle, so Mamute began with swimming, which let him exercise with the help of water’s buoyancy.
He says at least 100 kg of the weight he lost came from swimming. He also changed his eating habits, then moved on to walking and long-distance events.
His first major test was the Sao Silvestre race in Sao Paulo on Dec. 31, 2025. Weighing about 220 kg, he completed a course of more than 15K in over six hours. In April 2026, he ran the 10K race at the European Marathon in Aveiro, Portugal.
Races in Argentina, Uruguay and China followed. The 10K course on the Great Wall of China, which he finished in about eight hours, was among his hardest experiences, with steep stairs and uneven terrain.
The Barcelona race carried a personal meaning. Mamute was named after Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, whom his father admired.
He took his father to an Iglesias concert but could not fulfill another wish: seeing Spain. His father died before making the trip. Mamute told Marca, “I am doing this for both of us.”
Mamute turns every kilogram he loses into food donations for people in need. He has donated more than two metric tons (about 4,400 pounds) of food in Brazil and other countries and plans another donation in Barcelona on Nov. 17.
He said excessive eating once threatened his life and that he now wants to deliver the same food to those who need it.
He jokingly describes himself as the last “mammoth” refusing extinction. His next major goal is to complete the 42K route from Marathon to Athens, the historic marathon course, in November 2028.
He also aims to weigh under 100 kg by then. “I run to live,” he says.
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