David Henson completed the London Marathon in 2 hours 54 minutes 57 seconds to break the marathon world record with his hands cuffed.
The old record in this category belongs to Canadian runner Marc Griffin with 3 hours 21 minutes 55 seconds when running the Potomac River Run Marathon in Washington, USA on May 3, 2015.
On the London Marathon on October 2, Henson broke this record deeply, running at an average pace of 4:09 (4 minutes 9 seconds per kilometer) and finished with a better record than Griffin by 26 minutes 58 seconds.
Among runners in non-traditional clothing, Henson finished second. He is only behind David Jones, ho set the record for the fastest marathon in men’s pajamas, with a time of 2 hours 47 minutes 15 seconds.
Henson is just one of many runners wearing nontraditional clothing running the 2022 London Marathon to raise money for charity.
According to the Guinness World Records, the October 2 run had 34 individuals or groups registered to set the record, with 18 of them being successful by runners dressed as mythical creatures, dentists or even wearing silk pajamas.
“I was exhausted when I crossed the finish line. But making up for that feeling of fatigue was joy when I raised thousands of dollars for the Southampton Hospital Charity.” Henson said.
“David Henson ran the extra mile and smashed the record for fastest marathon wearing hand cuffs (male).” Guinness World Records tweeted.
In the women’s category, the world record for running a marathon with both hands cuffed is currently held by Kristina Kucar. The British runner ran the London Marathon 2021 with a time of 3 hours 15 minutes 53 seconds.
Hand cuffed is a very important movement in running. The way a runner holds and moves their arms makes a big difference in their stride and running performance.
According to a 2014 study in the Journal of Experimental Biology, compared to running with restricted arm movements such as being hand cuffed in both hands, hitting our arms while running can save runners up to 3% to 13% energy.
