“Three people ran the 2014 LONDON MARATHON dressed as toilets. The FASTEST completed the race in 2 hours, 57 minutes.”

National Geographic 5,000 Awesome Facts, fact # 17 on toilets

The event of the marathon was born out of the legend, an “Athenian courier, Pheidippides, who in 490BC ran from the site of the battle of marathon to Athens with the message of Nike (‘Victory’) before promptly collapsing and dying.” (www.ineos159challenge.com)

2500 years later, in 1896, a race of 40km was ran meant to embrace the legend of Pheidippides, and happened at the first inaugural Olympic games in Athens.

However, it wasn’t until 1908 in London whereas the race and it’s distance would be cemented into what is known as the common marathon.

The original distance of the race was set at 26 miles but changed to 26 miles and 385 yards due to a request from the Queen to move the starting point back so the royal children would be able to see the start from their nursery.

The history of marathoners donning costumes while running could have been established before 2010, however it wasn’t until a blog post that Mark Remy read on the “15 best Costumes at the 2010 London Marathon” that seemed to set the trend in motion. (http://runnersworld.com)

He stated that it probably became wildly more known due to the advancement of social media and the vast variety of cameras and cell phones to report on such costumes.

On the other hand, according to getsweatgo.com, the very first runner to dress up is thought to be a Roger Boubon. He wore, complete with the tray, a waiter’s outfit in the London Marathon 1981 and 1982. Back then it wasn’t very common, and people raised their eyebrows. (Howard Calvert of Gosweat.com)

Now full pages can showcase runners in all sorts of unique costumes.

So, in 2014, there were 3 people that dressed as toilets.

One of them, Marcus Mumford of the UK, April 13, 2014, achieved the fastest marathon dressed as a toilet. His time was 2 hours, 57 minutes and 28 seconds. He was running in the Virgin Money London Marathon and was running for the charity WaterAid. He beat out the two other toilet racers and set a new Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon runner dressed as a toilet. He even broke the Guinness World Record under that title. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/fastest-marathon-dressed-as-a-toilet-(male)

Some of the reasons of wearing a costume is a boost for fundraising, or to establish a place in Guinness World Records. There are actually strict rules about wearing a costume if somebody is trying to break or make a world record.

The criteria is as followed:

“You must include a photograph of your proposed costume with the application. A projected finish time in your costume of choice, so that runners can be assigned to correct entry wave. Dimensions of the costume or object that is to be worn or carried (including height, width, depth and weight)”

They check your costume beforehand and after to make sure the costume is being fully represented from head to toe. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/press/marathons&ved=2ahUKEwjklO-c0OWFAxV0ADQIHVFkB6oQFnoECBAQAw&usg=AOvVaw3zfJ7Nbv1iPs6FQ05KwiPt

If anybody wants to beat the world record of running a marathon as a toilet, it is free to apply if registering to beat an existing record, or a $5 fee if presenting a new topic.