Irish runner plans to set Guinness World record running a marathon in a bottle costume!

If you were looking through the photos of the Cork City Marathon recently, you may have noticed one runner in a bottle outfit...

The runner in question was Terry Brady who ran the Cork City Half-Marathon in an impressive 1:29:21!

Terry is currently planning to run the Waterford Marathon later in the month with the aim of breaking 3:31:57 which is the current Guinness World Record for running a marathon dressed as a bottle.

Terry outside the bottle

This is Terry's story in his own words.....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.

More information can be found here http://www.theoshope4sound.org/

https://www.ifundraise.ie/theoshope4soundIRL

Terry is originally from Co.Cavan and currently lives in Dunshaughlin in Co.Meath.

New Marathon for Waterford in 2012

Rumours of a Marathon in Waterford were doing the rounds about a year ago but nothing came of it in 2011. Now, a date has been fixed.........Saturday the 30th of June 2012. There are going to be 3 events as such...a full Marathon, a Half-Marathon and a relay event.

Starting in the city, the routes used will be the usual Waterford to Tramore road as well as a loop to the west as shown on the map. If the Tramore road is anything to go by then the course might described as reasonable but certainly not flat.

Comment and Analysis.........So ignoring all of the marketing hype and unrealistic expections, what's it really going to be like? Going on the basis that Waterford City has a population of circa 50k and Limerick City has circa 90k, then it wouldn't be unreasonable to use the Limerick Marathon event as a guideline to numbers. On that basis, the whole event may attract somewhere in the region of 3,000 to 4,000 runners.

1) Marathon......The full Marathon will possibly get approx 300-400 entries. Spread out over such a long route, big gaps will appear but this is where the relay runners come in. Without them, it could be a very lonely race. The fact that it is on in mid-Summer may deter many runners with many waiting for Dublin for cooler conditions. With the Cork Marathon coming just 3 weeks beforehand, it's likely that the vast majority of Marathon runners will be from the south-east region.

2) Half-Marathon....This is going to be yet another Half-Marathon in what is a very congested market. The fact that it is in Waterford itself will guarantee that many locals will do this race but perhaps at the expense of other Half-Marathons around that time. It will probably attract around 1,000 runners.

3) Relay runners......These will make up the bulk as teams of runners will complete the Marathon distance. It's very difficult to gauge how many will take part but a good guess is somewhere from 1,500 to 2,500.

Overall...It will no doubt be a welcome addition to the race calendar for people in the south-east region. The relay event with all of the associated publicity is likely to bring a lot more new runners from Waterford city into the sport which may well be reflected in larger race numbers locally in the second half of 2012. It may have a slight impact on the Cork Marathon numbers but the effect is likely to be small. Overall, good news for the sunny south-east!

New Marathon in Waterford???

There seems to be plans for a brand new Marathon in Waterford City in November 2011. The route has not been finalized but may take in the new bridge.

It raises a lot of questions.....Will it be a stand alone event? Will it incorporate the Waterford Half-Marahton? Will that stay a seperate event? Will there be a relay?

Coming a few weeks after Dublin, I'd guess that it may attract a few hunded entrants. When you spread that kind of field out over 26.2 miles then huge gaps appear. Having another type of event running in conjunction with it would make a lot a lot of sense, especially when you consider the amount of effort that will go into organising a race over such a long distance.

Whatever format they decide on, this new Marathon in the Deise is sure to attract a lot of attention next year.

Now....where do I sign up?