Sumo wrestler breaks Marathon Record

• Is there a time limit to complete the Marathon? No, however streets re-open to traffic at an approximately 13-minute per mile pace. At that time, participants still on the course will be required to move into the curb lane or on to the sidewalk and obey all traffic signals.  The finish line will remain open to an 8 hour time limit.  This time limit will be strictly enforced.
  
  
  Does this mean he didn't officially finish?  To me it seems to contradict itself.
  
  

checked the LA marathon website for finishers.  He got an official.  They must have set up something for him.   

Pictures of the marathoner.   http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/858668-30st-sumo-wrestler-plans-to-swim-channel-after-running-marathon

Cool!

Congrats to him.

Sumo wrestlers are strong athletes.  May not be fast, but very powerful.  They have to follow a strict regimen regarding diet and training.   

I don't know anything about sumo wresters after they retire the sports.  May have a lot of later-onset health problems.  But so do boxers and football players. 

"The heaviest person to ever complete a marathon weighed 275 pounds. Add that weight plus the total weight of a great long-distance runner (about 120 pounds) and you'll get Kelly Gneiting."

I find this part hart to beleive. I am sure some of my fellow Clydesdales would agree. To the best of my knowlage they do not take an offical weight of each person at the start of a Marathon, so how can they make this clam?

I think he weighed first and then after - probably to be sure he got in the record books...and so did that other person. As someone above posted, I understand that sumo wrestlers as athletes have strict dietary guidelines, however when this guy says ...'I'm in great shape, I just have a weakness for food'... that doesn't seem to support the "strict dietary guidelines' argument. It also seems at odds with his attitude of 'doing whatever it takes to finish'. "I'll crawl if I have to" I believe he said. Why make it that hard? Why eat the 8 big macs at one sitting? Why not feed your body to most efficiently compete in your chosen sport? Becoming delirious after 8 miles does not equal "great athlete" to me.

I'd bet money that he would have finished faster if he had started off walking instead of running.

At the first glance it seems admirable that he is doing it.  Then the more I think about it the more I agree it's publicity play.  Although, hopefully, it would encourage people to be active (walking or running), regardless of shape. 

Years ago I walked the entire Boston marathon route for Jimmy Fund.  It was BEFORE I started working out, and while I was still smoking.  I was in the worst shape of my life then.  Finished in 10 hours, including an hour long lunch and breaks.  If he is as fit as he claims to be, then it shouldn't take him over 11 hours to finishing walking. 

Yeah, this struck me as odd too (in the first article, he says he "smashed the previous record of 275 pounds.")  No way.  I bet we could post the question in tri talk and find people right here on BT who completed their first marathons @ > 275.  The difference being that they did it for their personal wellness alone, without making a publicity fuss about it.

As DK points out though, good can come of it if it motivates people to try running.  Or maybe even this guy will get motivated by all of his own hard work and overcome his food issues.

I'll up the ante on this one, I bet we could find people that finished an Iron-Distance race at 275.  I know I finished a half last year at 265.

But he "floats like a cork" so "it will be relatively easy".

Ridiculous!

I was waiting for this thread.  yeah I been robbed.  ok I will admit nothing was ever official but I have done 12 marathon, 6 ultra marathons , and 3 half iron mans  all over 275 lbs.

I have done 9 marathons, 5 ultra marathons and 2 half iron-mans over 300 lbs.  

Heaviest I ever done a marathon was 325 lbs.

farthest race I ever complete over 300 lbs was 52.5 mile footrace. (took me technically 24 hours because it was a 24 hour race but one of these days I will find out the true time if I can.)  

So that 275 lbs mark I really wish I knew about it because I would gotten it several times over. .

Well, conversely, being a healthy weight does not equal "healthy" either. In fact, there are a lot of definitions of what is meant by "healthy". Do you mean disease free? (The joke in internal medicine is that a "healthy person" is one who has not had enough tests done yet). Do you mean capable of completing the important physical tasks in one's life? Physical and mental?

And there are people who are "fat but fit" - no evidence of diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesteremia; who maintain "healthy lifestyles" for the most part, but still carry extra weight (granted, not too many in the 400 pound range, but I would be careful lobbing around judgement so freely).

Next time when you do another race, please inform the Guiness Record people and have them weigh you before the start.  Looks like you can enter the world record by running another Ultra. 

Best BT advice ever. 

If people do not really know about these records and some are being constantly broken without even knowing it then how good are the records anyways.