Edmonton man runs half-marathon wearing 90 T-shirts
David Eliuk set a unique record for the most T-shirts worn during a half marathon
Photo by:
7 Summit Snacks
At Edmonton’s Hypothermic Half Marathon on Feb. 20, local runner David Eliuk set a unique record for the most T-shirts worn during a half-marathon. Eliuk wore 90 T-shirts on his body for 21.1 kilometres, completing the race in 2:37:54.
In T-shirt wearing records, time does not matter as long as the course is completed. Eliuk’s goal was to beat the previous record of 76 shirts. He trained for this record for the past four months by adding 12 more shirts to his training runs every two weeks. “I knew I had to adapt to the change in weight and mobility,” Eliuk says. “The shirts limited the mobility of my upper body, which forced me to hunch forward more than my normal running posture.”
Eliuk, who ran the Boston Marathon in 2018, is no stranger to running and pushing the boundaries of human performance; he has a marathon PB of 2:59 and previously completed several Ironman triathlons. But he describes this challenge as one of the toughest things he’s done.
“Early in the race, I was having circulation issues in my left arm,” says Eliuk. “I was very uncomfortable. My support team had to make some adjustments with my outfit along the course to solve the problem.”
When he was asked why he did this, Eliuk responded, “I just wanted to make people laugh and smile.” He even inspired his son, Henry, who hopes to follow in his dad’s footsteps one day.
“If wearing 90 T-shirts made someone’s day better, then I’ve achieved my goal,” Eliuk says. “And hopefully, that record stands for a long time.”
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
