More than 40 world records broken by London marathon finishers

A total of 42 world records were broken at the London marathon on Sunday, Guinness World Records (GWR) has announced.

The first was set by Ethiopian runner Tigst Assefa who won the women’s elite race and achieved a new women-only world record with a time of two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds, surpassing that of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set by Peres Jepchirchir during last year’s race.

Radio presenter Adele Roberts also claimed a new world record for the fastest aggregate time to complete all World Marathon Major races with a stoma (female) with a total time of 20 hours, 29 minutes and 58 seconds.

Speaking after she crossed the finish line, the DJ said she hoped her achievement showed people with cancer they can “achieve anything”.

She added: “I’ve been through much, in terms of recovering from cancer, and with every step even though it hurt, I just thought ‘you’re alive, you’re lucky to be experiencing this’, so it was lovely.”

Ali Young, 51, broke the world record of the fastest marathon dressed as a bird (female) with a time of three hours, 26 minutes and 37 seconds.

Ms Young, from Amersham in Buckinghamshire, completed the race dressed in a black and white penguin costume, having trained beforehand for warm temperatures by spending time in a sauna.

A man dressed as a rhino also took home a new record of the most marathons run in the same three-dimensional costume (male).

Chris Green, known as Rhino Boy Chris, has completed 113 dressed in a large, grey rhino costume complete with a protruding horn in an effort to raise awareness for the endangered animal.

After he crossed the finish line, Mr Green, 49, said he would “love to retire” but that the rhino still “needed saving”.

“You need rhinos at the London marathon, as well as of course we need rhinos in the world,” he said, adding that there were 14 “rhino brothers and sisters” also competing in Sunday’s race.

A doctor from the Wirral, Merseyside, achieved a new world record of the fastest marathon dressed as a three-dimensional plant (male).

Martin Pritchard-Howarth, 52, who completed the 26.2 mile course dressed as sunflower in a pot, said the outfit was a “bit of a gimmick” but he was participating on behalf of a “fantastic cause” as he raised money for disability charity Scope.

The world record of the fastest marathon dressed as a mythical creature (male) was broken by 39-year-old Adam Cotterill, who wore a white unicorn outfit complete with a rainbow mane that had been chosen by his “unicorn-mad” daughters.

Mr Cotterill, from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, said he was raising money for the maternity ward at his local hospital, Russell Halls in Dudley, and thought his record attempt would “gain more attention”.

Those in fancy dress, some wearing restrictive and thick costumes, pushed to complete the race as temperatures hit 22.2C in the capital on Sunday.

Other records broken included the fastest marathon in a suit (male), the fasted marathon wearing foam clogs (male) and the fastest marathon with Parkinson’s disease (male).

More than 56,000 runners were expected to compete in the TCS London Marathon.