On Sunday, Amy Ellett of Kelowna, B.C., smashed the Guinness World File on the 2023 TCS London Marathon for the quickest ladies’s marathon as a three-dimensional physique half—sure, you learn that proper. The 42-year-old dentist and completed age-group triathlete ran the London Marathon in a tooth costume in 3:37:16.
Working in costume isn’t new for Ellett. She has beforehand biked and run Austin Ironman 70.3 as a bumblebee and Whistler Ironman 70.3 in a rainbow tutu. “I like operating in costume,” Ellett says. “I simply assume it’s enjoyable. You get extra cheers.” For a Guinness World File, Ellett mentioned she seemed up totally different choices and located a dressing up class for the marathon that gave her a great probability. Plus, as a dentist who clothes up for Halloween, she already had an enormous 3D tooth costume.
Ellett needed to undergo a particular course of to formally register with Guinness World Data, which included making costume alterations to make sure the “tooth” was beneath her knees. By including “gums” to her outfit, she was permitted by Guinness to make an official try within the three-dimensional physique half class. Solely six days after operating a 3:34:03 on the Boston Marathon, Ellett travelled to London together with her large, cumbersome tooth costume.
Since Guinness World Data is headquartered in London, the ratification course of is way simpler, so many record-seeking costume runners select the London Marathon. There’s a separate pre-race space for “costume-wearing file attempters” and Ellett mentioned she discovered herself surrounded by dinosaurs, beer cans, a bone, a strawberry, a squirrel, and even a charcuterie board (“quickest marathon as a savoury meals”). “It was the most effective pre-race ever, watching all of the costumes arrive,” she says. “Everybody was laughing. Everybody who runs in a dressing up isn’t taking it significantly, so it was far more relaxed.”
Ellett could have been relaxed—and dressed as a tooth— however she nonetheless needed to run quick. She thought her largest problem was going to be her drained legs, but it surely was the inclement climate that made issues essentially the most tough. “It was raining, and the tooth acquired fairly moist and the eyes fell off. It was humid and sizzling contained in the costume, and I didn’t assume it was slowing me down that a lot, however at 30 km the ‘gums’ have been so moist they have been binding my legs collectively and I couldn’t run with my correct stride,” she explains. “When the eyes fell off, I used to be trying down, considering it seemed like I had a cavity,” she laughs. “I knew my legs have been going to be trashed [from Boston] so the additional cheers helped—and I acquired a number of cheers!”
Ellett took virtually an hour off the world file, and was met with an official certificates from Guinness World Data on the finish. “The London marathon was the most effective marathon expertise,” she mentioned, “and including on the costume for a Guinness World File was superior. Extra folks ought to do it.”
Ellett is now making ready for Kona and the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Finland. Though she received’t be racing her world championship occasions in costume, she says she is already dreaming of operating the Boston Marathon as a unicorn.
