At the 2024 Calgary Marathon on Sunday, a group of 11 runners set a remarkable Guinness World Record for the fastest half marathon as a linked team. The record requires a minimum of five runners to be linked, and this record is a lot faster than you might think.
The time for the 11 runners to beat was 1:26:14, which was set at the 2015 Rehoboth Beach Seashore Half Marathon in Rehoboth Beach, Del. The group obliterated that time by six and a half minutes, with their last runner crossing the line in 1:19:47.
Calgary’s own Blaine Penny was the mastermind behind this team challenge. “It was quite the day and it really took a lot of teamwork to pull this off,” says Penny. “With 11 of us tethered together with only one metre between us, we had to be totally in sync with one another.”
Penny, who is the co-founder of Calgary-based charity MitoCanada, says the main goal of the run (besides achieving the Guinness World Record, of course) was to raise awareness and funds for MitoCanada and Mitochondrial disease. Penny and his team ended up raising over $30,000 and counting for MitoCanada, which supports clinical trials and programs across the country, including at the University of Calgary.
Penny was joined by 10 other Calgary-based runners who helped with the record: Jeremy Deere, Duncan Marsden, Richard MacDonald, Liyang Wang, Tom McGrath, Joel Neumann, Scott Cooper, Jamie Robb, Frank Woolstencroft, and last but not least, 2023 Calgary Marathon champion Lance Risseeuw.
“I was convinced at some point we would get tangled up in the runners, trip, and go down,” laughed Penny. “Somehow, we didn’t and just got it done.”
This is now the 15th Guinness World Record that MitoCanada has achieved since 2013. Combining all their efforts through these Guinness World Records, they have raised over $600,000 for MitoCanada and Mitochondrial disease.
If you’d like to donate to their cause, you can still do so here.
