Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 127, February 2020 | Page 21

Other successful record attempts in the half marathon
included Canadian Melissa Chen dressing as a carrot
to run the fastest half-marathon dressed as a
vegetable (female). She crossed the line in 1:53:09,
beating the previous record of 2:00:00. Meanwhile,
fellow Canadian Calum Knott ran the fastest half
marathon dressed as a cowboy (male) in 1:51:29 to
break the previous record of 1:51:56.
Another Canadian, Charlie Molina, ran the fastest
half marathon in a martial arts suit (male) in
1:27:03, beating the previous record of 1:28:22. And
donning the costume of the Jasmine character from
Aladdin, American model and blogger Aysha Mirza
ran the fastest half marathon dressed as a cartoon
character (female) in 1:53:26, to break the previous
record of 2:00:00.
fastest marathon dressed as a tennis player (male)
in 3:05:30, to break the previous record of 3:28:48,
and American runner Jeff Mescal ran 2:56:46 for the
fastest marathon dressed in a baseball uniform
(male), bettering the previous record of 3:47:35.
Omar Trujillo of Mexico ran the fastest marathon
dressed as an Aztec (male) in 3:40:18. The previous
record was 4:15:00.
Canadian Jared Levine ran the fastest marathon
dressed as a super-villain (male) in 03:02:02,
substantially bettering the previous record of 4:00:00.
However, one of the stranger records fell to another
Canadian, Joe Ajoy, who broke the record for the
fastest marathon dressed in full Quidditch kit
(male) in 4:02:31. The previous record was 4:15:00.
However, two new records that don’t sound all that
impressive were set, and these records sound well
within the reach of several South African pairs.
Canadian couple Julia Heos and Jake Carter ran
the fastest aggregate half marathon by a married
couple (by adding their finishing times together) in
3:12:23, to break the previous record of 3:13:27.
That’s an average of 1:36:11 each, which sounds well
within the reach of a number of South African couples.
Meanwhile Canadian sisters Valentina and Andrea
Caballero apparently ran the fastest half marathon
by a pair of siblings crossing the finish line together,
coming home in 2:15:49 to break the previous record
of 2:30:00. Just for starters, pretty sure the Kalmer
sisters or the Phelula twins could shatter that one!
“Many spectators laughed uproariously as they saw
me skipping past, which in turn made me laugh
through the pain. It was so much fun, but I was a
wreck by the end, and I finished less than a minute
under David Rush’s recent record. I didn’t train for this
record, and I don’t plan to do it again, because it’s just
too painful!
Ready to Claim Your Own Record?
No Skipping This Record
Still stranger was the record set by Canada’s Michal
Kapral in the half marathon. He crossed the line in
2:12:46, having skipped the entire 21.1km distance
– without a rope, that is – to beat the previous best
of 2:13:41 for the fastest half marathon skipping
without a rope (male). He had actually initially
believed he needed to beat the time of 2:27:01, but
shortly before the Toronto race he found out that
a fellow juggler and GWR-holder, David Rush, had
recently lowered the record to 2:13:41.
“My plan was to go sub-2, but after a tough opening
kilometre in about 5 minutes 50 seconds, I knew it
was going to be tight to crack 2:13,” says Michal.
“Runners were passing me pretty much the entire
race. Since I had a Guinness World Record Official
Attempt sign on my back, I got lots of encouragement
from them as they sped by.”
Sporting Marathon Records
While most runners consider running a marathon a
significant challenge, a number of the Toronto entrants
opted to run the full 42.2km distance in costume
to secure Guinness World Records. This included
Dutchman Bruno Gustavo Macaneiro running 3:28:34
to take the fastest marathon dressed in a football/
soccer kit (male), bettering the previous record of
3:42:32. Similarly, Diego Alcubierre of Mexico ran the
mark I had I developed major blisters on the balls
of my feet, which made every step of the second
half painful, and the muscle pain shifted around
throughout the race. My calves hurt at the beginning,
then my hip flexors, then shins, then quads, and even
my arms started to hurt from the weird arm swing of
the skipping technique.”
The GWR requires the skipper to maintain a proper
skipping technique every step of the distance, taking
off and landing on the same foot with the other foot
off the ground. This brought a number of challenges
for Michal. “A few times I messed up the skipping
pattern, and had to go back and redo it. By the 10km
If you’re a runner with a sense of adventure, listen
up! Besides the records listed above that were
successfully beaten in Toronto – which could be
beaten again, hint, hint – there were several others
that remained unbeaten:
• Fastest marathon in a fireman’s uniform (male):
3:41:10
• Fastest marathon dressed as an astronaut
(female): 4:00:00
• Fastest marathon dressed as a professional
wrestler (male): 3:15:00
• Fastest half marathon dressed as a ballet
dancer (female): 2:15:00
• Fastest half marathon dressed as an elf (female):
2:00:00
• Fastest half marathon dressed as a fisherman
(male): 2:25:00
So, if you have Guinness World Record aspirations
of your own, perhaps you’d like to give one of these
a try in an upcoming race – and if those don’t grab
your fancy, go take a look through the full list of GWR
records to pick one, because there are many, many
more. There are more conventional ones like fastest
half marathon pushing a baby jogger, or you could
even come up with your own. Not sure if anybody
has tried setting an official record yet for the fastest
half marathon dressed as a rugby player, or fastest
marathon dressed as a miner!
This article is based on information and quotes supplied by international banana exporting company Chiquita,
as well as material originally published by Guinness World Records and Canadian Running magazine. To find
out more about GWR running records, go to www.guinnessworldrecords.com.
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