21, David Eliuk was poking throughout the Guinness World Data website online for fascinating working data. He was looking for a purpose to chase, and after scrolling by means of quite a few costumed-marathon data, he discovered the report for most likely probably the most t-shirts worn all through a half marathon.
“Seeing the picture of the gentleman that had the report on the time, he appeared like this huge balloon and appeared hilarious in his photographs,” Eliuk, 40, suggested Runner’s World. “So I was like, okay, let’s uncover this barely bit further.”
Every two weeks important as a lot because the 2022 Hypothermic Half Marathon in his hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, Eliuk loaded 10 to 12 t-shirts onto his physique and set out for runs. When the day lastly arrived, February 20, 2022, he achieved the race carrying 94 t-shirts, prior to the three:00 limit in Guinness’s rulebook, snagging the report.
Celebrations didn’t ultimate prolonged. It takes Guinness 12 weeks to course of knowledge, nonetheless the record-breaker pays the group $800 to expedite ratification. One other particular person beat Eliuk’s report sooner than it was licensed and paid the money to get their report licensed in merely 5 days. The movement efficiently erased Eliuk’s report.
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Nonetheless Eliuk wasn’t going to give up, even when the report was broken plenty of events over the next yr. In November 2022, he began teaching within the course of his purpose of 120 t-shirts.
Eliuk arrived to the race on February 5 this yr. Just some helpers dressed him in a dozen t-shirts at a time, starting with medium-sized skin-tight athletic shirts and progressively setting up out to dimension XXXXL. After 35 minutes, spherical 20 of each dimension from medium to XXXXL held on his shoulders. Eliuk felt immense pressure on his physique, restricted arm movement, and lack of circulation to his greater extremities. But it surely absolutely was time to race—all 120 t-shirts and 48.5 further kilos in tow.
Eliuk and his pacers, Leanna Carriere and Jen Hamel. Courtesy of David Eliuk
Two pacers run alongside Eliuk to assist and act as witnesses for the report attempt. Every mile or so, they’d take a stroll break to therapeutic therapeutic massage his arms and arms, which prevented any damaging uncomfortable unwanted side effects from lack of blood circulation. In addition to, they ordinary a sling to his left arm so it wouldn’t stick out and flop spherical, decreasing extraneous motion.
Eliuk’s sling is seen over his left arm in inexperienced. Courtesy of David Eliuk
After 2:43:30, Eliuk crossed the street. Whereas the time was a far-cry from his half marathon non-public higher of 1:26, he achieved his purpose: a Guinness world report. Nonetheless he wasn’t carried out however. Guinness requires video proof that he was actually carrying 120 t-shirts. So for quarter-hour, he and his helpers eradicated the shirts one-by-one, dropping them in piles of fifty, until they counted to 120.
“It was so relieving to get them off. You’re already exhausted from the run,” Eliuk talked about. “Now it is necessary to do further work, on account of it’s persistently arms up, arms down, arms up, arms all the way in which all the way down to get the shirts up and over my head.”
To forestall ultimate yr’s debacle, Eliuk raised money by means of GoFundMe to cowl the costs to expedite report ratification. He hit his purpose of $800 and additional, the excess of which he’ll donate to a neighborhood charity.
Whereas Eliuk doesn’t have anymore record-setting goals throughout the near future, he’s gearing up for his first 100K in Would possibly, as part of the Lakou Yard Extraordinarily in Spruce Grove, Alberta. And as for his t-shirt half marathon report, he’s completely prepared for anyone to interrupt it—and that’s OK with him.
“If I can encourage any particular person to achieve a purpose or make any particular person smile as soon as they’re having a nasty day by working down the road and looking out like a goof, then I’ve carried out what I want to do,” he talked about.