Guernsey Press

Three-legged world record for man born in the island

A NEW world record has been set for three-legged running at the London Marathon by a former Guernsey Commonwealth Games athlete and his workmate.

Published

Damian Thacker, who represented the island of his birth in the triathlon at the 2006 Melbourne Games, secured his place in the Guinness World Records when he and his colleague, Luke Symonds, took more than 30 minutes off the previous record, finishing the marathon in a time of just three hours, seven minutes and 57 seconds.

The previous Guinness record was three hours and 40 minutes and the world record had been three hours and 25 minutes.

Mr Thacker, 42, a clinical lead physio, said he and Mr Symonds also broke the world record for the three-legged 5km during a training run and unofficially beat the half-marathon record during the London Marathon, but completing the entire race on Sunday was a tough challenge.

'It was quite emotional crossing the finish line,' he said.

Mr Thacker and wife Amy live in Hathersage in Derbyshire, but his mother, Lawney Martin, still lives in Guernsey.

Money raised from his remarkable London Marathon feat is going to the physio department at the Sheffield Children's Hospital – a place close to his heart.

In 2013, his son, Jem, who was 10-and-a-half months old at the time, was badly burned when he pulled hot tea off a table and was subsequently treated in the children's hospital's burns unit.

Mr Thacker and his wife were so grateful for the treatment they received and wanted to show their appreciation.

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