- Who
- Paul Underwood
- What
- 2:53:59 hour(s):minute(s):second(s)
- Where
- United Kingdom (Dorney Lake)
- When
The fastest marathon dressed as a referee (male) is 2 hr 53 min 59 sec, achieved by Paul Underwood (UK), in Dorney Lake, Buckinghamshire, UK, on 3 April 2021.
Paul has previously achieved Guinness World Records titles including the fastest half marathon dressed as a monarch (male), fastest half marathon dressed as a cartoon character (male) and fastest half marathon in film character costume (male). He says the most challenging costume was the monarch, where he ran dressed as Henry VIII during the hottest London Marathon on record.
Paul was a member of his local athletics team when he was younger but stopped running for around 15 years due to injury. After picking it back up he progressed slowly, managing a 5K his first year and progressing to 10K the next year. He eventually built up to marathon distances and even completed an IRONMAN® event, and has been hooked ever since. He has finished around 15 marathon and 30 half-marathons in his lifetime. The longest run he has ever managed is 70 miles; but he is currently training for a 100-mile ultra-marathon in May 2021!
He trains between 3 to 10 hours per week, depending on work and family commitments, and has found that varying the running with cycling has improved his performance and recovery.
Paul grew up getting the Guinness World Records book for Christmas and says it was "amazing" to see his own name in the book after his Virgin Money London Marathon attempt. His children now get the book for Christmas each year and try and get him to guess what all the different records are.
