Man becomes the fastest person to run a marathon dressed as a clown

A schoolteacher from Radley is believed to have broken a world record after running a marathon dressed as a clown.

Paul Fernandez, 34, completed the Gloucester Marathon last Sunday in full clown costume in 2hr 50min 34sec — more than half-an-hour faster than the Guinness World Record of 3hr 24min.

Mr Fernandez, a biology teacher at Radley College, was second overall in the race out of about 250 runners. His time has to be verified by Guinness Book of Records officials.



He was struck with the idea after looking at feats of endurance. He said: “I was looking through world records and I saw that some kid had got one for putting 14 snails on his face or something like that, and I thought if he can do that, I want to get a record.

“I had a look at three-legged half-marathons and registered my interest with a few others, and the Guinness Book of Records sent me some others to try — the clown one stood out.”

His next challenge is to set the official record for the fastest marathon in a Santa Claus costume, which stands at 3hr 12min. After that, he has his eyes set on beating the ‘Elvis costume’ record, which stands at 2hr 53min.