La Maratona di Londra è anche questo. La corsa di tanti che tentano di raggiungere l'ambito traguardo di essere iscritti nel Guinness dei Primati per aver corso la maratona vestiti (o travestiti) in modi estrosi ed originali, raccogliendo nello stesso tempo fondi a favore di iniziative caritatevoli.
Da questo punto di vista la Maratona di Londra è uno spettacolo unico e offre tanti spettacoli nello spettacolo.

To infinity and beyond for Guinness World Record runners (24/04/2015)

The saying goes that two’s company and three’s a crowd, but not for Andy Church, Heather Smith and Laura Jones – who will go for the record for the fastest marathon in a three-piece costume – and Debbie Leeland and Paula Marshall who will aim to run the fastest marathon three-legged (female) as they all target Guinness World Records in this Sunday’s Virgin Money London Marathon.

Church, Smith and Jones, all Witney Road Runners, will run in ‘Andy’s toybox’ dressed as Buzz Lightyear, Jessie and Woody – the iconic animated characters of Toy Story.

“It was my idea,” said Andy. “We got our places via the club draw at Christmas and Laura mentioned the pressure of beating our previous times, so I suggested dressing up.”

Such pressure comes from the fact that the trio have run over 40 marathons between them, with all three running best times of sub-four hours. They’re not too shabby in their toybox either, having clocked 2:09 at the adidas Silverstone Half Marathon last month – a time significantly shorter than the 40 hours it took to build it.

“We’ve only been out three times together in costume, but we’ve not had a bad time yet,” they said. “We’ve been training for this for around 20 weeks and we’re pretty confident we can beat the Guinness World Record time of 5:45. We’re aiming for sub-five hours.”

The team will have the support of several members of their club who are also running this Sunday, albeit not in costume, as well as the many club members who are marshalling the Tower Bridge section of the race, but it won’t all be fun and games: “We just love running, but the big challenge for us will come from getting tired and losing concentration at different times,” they admitted today.

Coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the London Marathon, it’s also the 30th anniversary of their running club Witney Road Runners, so it’s a day of celebration as well as raising money for their chosen charity Action Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Leeland and Marshall, who run together for Cranleigh Tortoise and Hare, are best friends with marathon best times of 4:27 and 4:04 respectively.

On Sunday their friendship will be put to the test as they’re tied together at the wrist and ankle in a bid to break the Guinness World Record of five hours, while at the same time raising money for PhabKids, a charity that inspires and supports children and adults with and without disabilities to make more of life together.

Irrespective of what happens, the week has already been a success as the pair proudly donned the Blue Peter badges they were presented with on yesterday’s show. They’re already winners.