What is the current record for the half marathon in a suit?

In the lead up to this record attempt I have often been asked what the current record is. It’s important to have a goal to aim for. So, what is the time I have to beat to take the record?

This is actually quite a tough one to answer. The record is proving so popular this year that it has become a bit of a moving target.

I first begun to consider tackling the record in October when I heard Nick Mizera had broken it. I thought that his 1 hour 35:47 was well within my reach and that the attempt would make a fun awareness raiser for fragile X. I made a mental note of one day giving it a go.

In December, when I heard that Giham Amarasiriwardena had knocked more than ten minutes off the record, I thought I’d better give it a shot soon, before it moves out of my reach. Giham is the official current record holder on the Guinness website with a time of 1 hour 24:41.

However, at least 3 people have run faster than Giham since his December race. None have had their attempts verified — yet. In total, the folk at Guinness have 16 open applications for this record at the moment, including mine. Unless you go for the pricey fasttrack option — or even pay for a Guinness official to join you on the finish line — there is a wait of several months to verify each record.

An example of the sorts of things that verification checks for appeared in Yuki Kawauchi’s super fast 1 hour 6 minutes 42". Unfortunately, he ran on an uncertified course, so it looks likely his record will not be upheld.

In March, Rex Woodbury ran a suited half in New York in 1:18:40. While his looks like it will be officially recognised, it was broken just two weeks later at the Reading half, in 1 hour 18:15. This is currently the one to beat.

So what is my target time? I’m aiming for 1 hour 17 minutes. My best is 1:16:46, although I feel I could run closer to 1:16:00 at the moment without a suit. Amarasiriwardena said the suit set him around two minutes off his best. Woodbury, running in cold New York weather, thinks the suit didn’t slow him down at all.

I’m allowing myself one minute for the slightly warmer Sydney weather (current forecast for 9 degrees on race day). And keeping fingers crossed that no one else attempts the record before May 15!