Last night I stood next to the ex-England and Middlesex fast bowler Angus Fraser, who's running the VLM. He is, as they say, a big unit. He's about 6ft 5in, and solidly built with - sorry Gus - a couple of chins and a couple of bellies. Maybe 17, 18 stone or more?
He's obviously a very strong man - although he's now 46 - but that's a considerable bulk to drag round a marathon.
I know Guinness do some ridiculous marathon records, but is there one for the heaviest person who's run one (or most of one - not walked)? Any other heavyweights out there who've managed it?
Comments
This is an article from last year
Kelly Gneiting weighs over 400 pounds and was determined to run right into the record book as the heaviest man ever to complete a marathon.
Gneiting is so large, he had to cut open the collar of his running shirt to make room for his neck!
25,000 runners took part in Sunday's Los Angeles Marathon and Gneiting was near the back of the pack.
To get an idea of how slowly he ran, a woman walked right passed him.
To make a tough race even tougher, a torrential rain begins to fall.
"Eight more miles, holy cow!" he said.
He finally crossed the finish line with a time of nine hours, 48 minutes, and 52 seconds.
"I set the world record!" Gneiting told INSIDE EDITION proudly.
Not only that, he lost four pounds!
To watch the documentary about this 400-pound runner, go to Youtube.
Is 16 to 16.5 stone considered HUGE? I done 9 marathons inc 3 London, most at that weight. And i started running to lose weight!
Something is going wrong somewhere!
The Uk record holder, around about 800 marathons, who I have met on the hoof many times and has my deepest respect, whose name I will not mention would admit to being no gazell. He enjoys his beer, just like the next man.
It is perfectly possible to carry body fat over the distance, if you are fit. Some fat helps; if you run on empty your body eats muscle.
Only youngsters chasing time need to worry about weight. Otherwise, keep it down for the sake of your needs, but don't go skinny.
Weight is proportional to the cube of height, obviously. Which is why Bob Willis weighed more than Gatting batting (or maybe he didn't!).
KK