Irish runner sets Guinness World Record dressed as a bottle in Waterford Marathon...

Back in early June, I had a post up about Terry Brady who had run the Cork City Half-Marathon dressed as a bottle. This was part of his preparation for the Waterford Viking Marathon which was held last Saturday the 27th of June 2015.

Terry Brady in the Cork Half-Marathon in early June

This is Terry's story in his own words from the previous post.....3 years ago I took up running and have been giving a new lease of life. My biggest personal achievement to date is running a 2:59 marathon in Berlin in 2014 (only 2% of people who line up achieve this).

My godchild, 1 yr old Theo was born profoundly deaf. His Mother (from Clonakility  has built a FB & internet page so people can follow his progress (http://www.theoshope4sound.org). Theo is just 1 yr old and was born with a very rare form of deafness due to his auditory nerves fusing. He has a completely silent world. There are only a handful of specialist surgeons worldwide who are able to implant a tiny device into the actual brain stem where hearing is processed. An ABI (auditory brain stem implant ) will at a minimum give him Environmental Noises but with lots of therapy and hard work maybe even speech. It is estimated that with the cost of surgery, follow ups will be 100,000 EUR which is self-funded. 

Could Ireland Have a Marathon World record holder??

This leads me into what I aim to do: This is to break the Guinness world record for running a marathon dressed as a bottle during the Waterford Viking Marathon on June 27th 2015. Last year Buxton Water supported Paul Simons record breaking attempt in the London Marathon. Many fundraising costume wearing runners normal languish mid pack or to the tail end of a field. I aim to be right up in the top 5-10% of finishers. The current record is 3:31 and I aim to run quicker.

Well, not only did Terry break the record but he smashed it by an amazing 15 minutes finishing in a chip time of 3:16:58. After going through the half way mark in 69th place, Terry ran a negative split in finish 40th overall.

Q & A with Terry......

1) As outlined in a previous post, you've been running for about 3 years and your PB for the marathon is 2:59 in Berlin in September of 2014. What are your best times for some of the other distances? Say Half-Marathon? 10 mile? 5k?
Terry......PB for 5k is 16:55 ran at Dublin graded meet in May. 10 mile is 59:13 at John Tracy Dungarvan last year and Half is 1:19:58 also last year in Bohermeen Meath  I do hope to lower the 10k & half times this year.

2) I see from your bottle outfit that you are sponsored by Orpens Cider. Was it hard to find a sponsor? Can you tell us about the sponsor and where are they based?
Terry....Yes very difficult, I spent 2 months writing over a 100 emails to various drinks company’s with little success. Orpens was one of a few companies to get back and show an interest. Matt from Orpens said my email hit a cord with him and he offered his support straight away .
Orpens are based in the Guinness Enterprise centre in Dublin 8. Its founders are Chris Hill and Matt Tindal and they were involved in the wine business and enjoying the business of selling famous wines from around the world. But they yearned of standing proudly behind an Irish product of similar pedigree and crafting. Both Matt and Chris share a family history of growing apple orchards, so it was a logical step to craft an Irish cider with all the pedigree of a great wine. This is how Orpens was born.

3) What is the bottle outfit made of? How much does it weigh?
Terry......The bottle is made from a foam called Zote and was made by a company called Modal & Prop (http://www.modelandprop.com) its weight 4kgs (does it really weigh that much). Anybody thinking of doing anything similar should contact these guys.

4)  When you ran 1:29 in the Cork City Half-Marathon, you had plastic wrapping on top of it? Was there a reason for that?
Terry........The cling film was for protection!! The forecast was for torrential rain so I wanted to try and protect it for the Marathon itself as much I could

5) What kind of problems do you encounter with the bottle costume? Rubbing? Friction? Heat? Visibility?
Terry......My first two outing’s in the bottle resulted in quite bad cuts on both quads. I got this sorted with some additional padding. Its bangs against my head a bit but I’m use to knocks from playing GAA in Cavan so wasn’t an issue. I can really only see straight ahead and cant hear very well with the constant movement around my head.

6) You ran the Cork Half in windy conditions. Does that impact on you when you are running in a costume?
Terry......The Cork half marathon was the toughest conditions I have ever ran in. I wasn’t  worried about a time so I still found it very enjoyable. In places I nearly came to a standstill when the wind caught it. I was also worried in parts that I has about to lose my head :o)

7) After running the Waterford Viking Marathon in 3:16, what do you think is the hardest thing about running in a bottle costume? What's the biggest difference to say just running in a singlet?
Terry.....The heat, I was very tempted to cut a hole in the neck of the bottle to act like a chimney (suggested by a club mate). I haven’t sweated as much since the morning of my Leaving Certificate

8) What kind of reaction did you get from the crowds in Cork and Waterford?
Terry........Cork was absolutely brilliant in fairness. The race past by in a flash. Waterford was very good also but the volume of supporters wouldn’t of been the same. Parts of the route didn’t have any support. But I had both Stephen & Mel for company the whole way round which helped massively.

Terry Brady running alongside the sea front in Tramore

9) What is the procedure for getting it ratified as a Guiness World Record? What conditions do you have to meet? Does the bottle costume have to be a certain size?
Terry......The bottle needed to get verified by Guinness world records prior to the event in order to ensure it meet all guidelines. I have to provide two race official signed statements. Two signed statements from the official timers who are precision timing. I recorded the whole race with the help of Stephen Connon who ran with me and will the help of Melaine Davis who cycled the whole way and also filmed and took pictures at each mile marker.

10)  How is the fundraising going? How do people donate?
Terry...The support we have received has been fantastic so far. Currently we have raised just over 11k EUR. This will help greatly with Theos operation but the operation and subsequent cost will be well over 100k EUR. If anybody has a few spare EUR they can find the donation page at the following. Theo is just 13 months old and hopefully has an amazing life ahead of him which  we believe will be enhanced by being able to hear his mammy, daddy and his big brothers voices.

http://ww.ifundraise.ie/theoshope4soundIRL

11)  What's next? Any more record plans?
Terry...Plan a wedding in Sept in clonakility, that will be the ultimate challenge :o)
I will definitely try to come up with something else if I can give further help to Theo’s parents Imelda & Stephen. Maybe a race off with the former record holder the Buxton bottle? :o)

Alice O'Leary...Theo’s Aunt and Terry's fiancée ran the half marathon as super women finishing in 1:58