Test tube rack runners set Guinness World Record

A runner who completed the London Marathon as part of a ten-strong team dressed as a test tube rack said it was like "trying to manoeuvre an articulated lorry down a country lane".

Graham Sturge, and nine others, from Bromham, near Bedford, set a Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon in a ten-person costume with a time of five hours 41 minutes and 47 seconds.

He said having raised over £108,000 for Pancreatic Cancer UK, to honour his father John, who died from the illness in 2017, was "absolutely amazing".

It was the 28th marathon Mr Sturge had completed but he said it brought "a whole new level of physical torment".

The 52-year-old said the costume design was related to the need to raise money to help fund testing for the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

The team was made up of Mr Sturge, Simon Short, Claire Short, Paul Owen, Richard Yeeles, Christopher Setterfield, Julie Pritchett, Jodi Simpson, Marcela Bell and Francine Setterfield - all from Bromham and members of the Happy Feet running group.

He said the idea was floated at the local pub and "there weren't any no's".

However, nine days before the marathon, Francine Setterfield was rushed to hospital with appendicitis, so a replacement was found in Simon Place, who already had a ballot place for the race.

"We then did a training run in costume, with the new team at Bedford Parkrun on 19 April, as up until then we had just used bungee cords," Mr Sturge said.

He added that the race itself was a real "physical battle" and "just a whole new level of physical torment".

"Your biggest fear is letting nine other people down, you don't want to be the one that fails, and you don't get that when you run on your own.

"At the end there were a lot of people walking, so it was like trying to manoeuvre an articulated lorry down a country lane."

The world record was taken from a team who ran last year's race dressed as a bus.

Their time was six hours 32 minutes and 5 seconds, but team test tube took 50 minutes and 18 seconds off that to enter the record books.

Mr Sturge said: "I have a cunning idea of being a team of 20 to do a park-based run. We could join with the bus team and do it together. That would be an excellent idea."

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