Every year, Guinness World Records and the TCS London Marathon team up for an amazing day of sports and record-breaking.
Many runners use colourful, fun costumes to shine a light on a charity close to their heart, raising awareness for a good cause while trying to earn a coveted spot in the Guinness World Records book.
Other than racking up an incredible total of 44 records in April 2024, the TCS London Marathon set another incredible achievement just after wrapping up the 2024 edition.
The 2025 TCS London Marathon, in fact, reached the most ballot entries for a marathon event in history with a whopping total of 840,318. The result was announced on 29 April, the day after it took place.
After the London event, four record-breaking runners visited Guinness World Records' London HQ to talk about their experiences.
Together, Ollie Shortt (fastest marathon dressed as a body part), Laura Baker (fastest marathon dressed as a sweet food), George Scholey (most rotating puzzle cubes solved while running a marathon) and Chris Green (fastest marathon dressed as a mammal) reunited not only to celebrate a pinnacle of self-achievement but also to spread the word about worthy causes.
All the runners agree that the London Marathon has an unequalled magic.
The cheering crowd, the energy, the adrenaline: every part of the event contributes to a fantastic day of fun and sport.
However, all the runners were also engaged in a personal battle to raise funds and awareness for causes close to their hearts.
"Passion pushes you to do things you would have never thought possible," explains Chris "Rhino Boy" Green, who ran the fastest marathon dressed as a mammal in 2021. "I never thought I would be able to complete one marathon when I first ran dressed as a rhino. That was the London Marathon in 2009."
"You keep doing it because of the fun, the elation, but you also see the positive effects it has," he continues, talking about the positive reverberations of the fundraising.
In the year of his record-breaking marathon, Chris achieved a whopping time of 4 hours, 6 minutes and 31 seconds.
It's inspiring to see where people's generosity will take you - Chris
Do you want to break a record at a marathon? Eager to start running again? Keep an eye out for more info on the Berlin Marathon 2024!
"It was amazing," George confirms.
George is a well-known face at the GWR offices, having already broken the records for most rotating puzzles solved on a skateboard and most rotating puzzle cubes solved in 24 hours.
On the day, George wanted to raise awareness for St John Ambulance and tackled the marathon… one rotating puzzle at a time!
With an incredible total of 520 rotating puzzles solved during the race, George broke the record for most rotating puzzle cubes solved while running a marathon and once again confirmed his amazing skills.
“This year marks the 50th anniversary of Rubik’s Cube, so I wanted to mark that too while raising money for a charity,” George says.
Dublin-born Oliver "Ollie" Shortt dressed in a huge human bone costume to raise awareness for a cause particularly close to his heart — one he knows well, and has experienced first-hand.
“My wife was diagnosed with a liposarcoma in Jan 2021,” he explains. “I had no idea what Sarcoma was before this. It is a very rare cancer that is often diagnosed very late on."
Ollie then decided to run his first-ever fancy dress marathon for Sarcoma UK, a charity specializing in this specific, incredibly hard-to-diagnose, form of cancer.
"As well as raising much-needed funds for research, I also just really wanted to raise awareness of this type of cancer.”
Despite being unable to train for nearly four weeks because of an injury, Ollie still took on the challenge and smashed the record for the fastest marathon dressed as a human body part.
Thanks to early detection and treatment, Ollie’s wife Kripa is now cancer-free.
Although it was her third marathon in the last year and a half, it was the first-ever marathon in a fancy costume for 27-year-old Laura Baker, who decided to run in a beautiful wedding cake dress.
“We had done a sponsored marathon walk with the company last year,” she explains, “but this was my first time running for a charity.”
While wearing her costume, she would train “at home, in her village, because she was too scared to do it in London.”
“For me, being featured in the Guinness World Records book would be a chance to inspire others to try and break a world record too, especially those interested in running,” Laura says.
“As someone who only got into running a couple of years ago, I hope to show others that world records aren’t exclusive to professional athletes, but are very accessible to the everyday runner like myself and that you don’t have to be particularly fast to achieve a marathon-related record, just creative in your costume idea.”
Working in the wedding industry for a wedding planning app, Laura thought that attempting the fastest marathon dressed as a sweet food (and specifically as a pink-glazed wedding cake) would have been the perfect choice.
She also completed the marathon to raise awareness for the Wedding Wishing Well Foundation, a charity which organizes and funds weddings for terminally ill people across the UK.
We have a problem in this world: you want to change things but, sometimes, you think 'What kind of difference can I make?' And then you realize that, if you get together, you can really make dreams come true. You really can help the causes close to your heart - Chris
As we eagerly wait for the TCS London Marathon 2025, we warmly congratulate again all the runners who have participated in the TCS London Marathon 2024.
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