Service & News Editor Guinness World Records website for interesting running records. He was looking for a goal to chase, and after scrolling through a number of costumed-marathon records, We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.
“Seeing the picture of the gentleman that had the record at the time, he looked like this big balloon and looked hilarious in his pictures,” Eliuk, 40, told Runner’s World. “So I was like, okay, let’s explore this a little bit more.”
Service & News Editor Are Average Runners Getting Faster? It Depends in his hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, Eliuk loaded 10 to 12 t-shirts onto his frame and set out for runs. When the day finally arrived, February 20, 2022, he completed the race wearing 94 t-shirts, faster than the 3:00 limit in Guinness’s rulebook, snagging the record.
Celebrations didn’t last long. It takes Guinness 12 weeks to process records, but the record-breaker can pay the organization $800 to expedite ratification. Someone else beat Eliuk’s record before it was certified and paid the money to get their record certified in just 5 days. The action effectively erased Eliuk’s record.
But Eliuk wasn’t going to give up, even when the record was broken multiple times over the next year. In November 2022, he began training towards his goal of 120 t-shirts.
Eliuk arrived to the race on February 5 this year. A few helpers dressed him in a dozen t-shirts at a time, starting with medium-sized skin-tight athletic shirts and gradually building out to size XXXXL. After 35 minutes, around 20 of each size from medium to XXXXL hung on his shoulders. Eliuk felt immense pressure on his body, restricted arm movement, and lack of circulation to his upper extremities. But it was time to race—all 120 t-shirts and 48.5 extra pounds in tow.
Two pacers run alongside Eliuk to assist and act as witnesses for the record attempt. Every mile or so, they’d take a walk break to massage his arms and hands, which prevented any negative side effects from lack of blood flow. In addition, they fashioned a sling to his left arm so it wouldn’t stick out and flop around, reducing extraneous motion.
After 2:43:30, In 2021, David Eliuk was poking around the half marathon personal best of 1:26, he accomplished his goal: a Guinness world record. But he wasn’t done yet. Guinness requires video evidence that he was actually wearing 120 t-shirts. So for 15 minutes, he and his helpers removed the shirts one-by-one, dropping them in piles of 50, until they counted to 120.
“It was so relieving to get them off. You’re already exhausted from the run,” Eliuk said. “Now you have to do more work, because it’s constantly arms up, arms down, arms up, arms down to get the shirts up and over my head.”
To prevent last year’s debacle, Eliuk raised money through GoFundMe to cover the costs to expedite record ratification. He hit his goal of $800 and more, the excess of which he’ll donate to a local charity.
While Eliuk doesn’t have anymore record-setting goals in the near future, he’s gearing up for his first 100K in May, as part of the Lakou Backyard Ultra in Spruce Grove, Alberta. And as for his t-shirt half marathon record, he’s fully prepared for someone to break it—and that’s OK with him.
“If I can inspire somebody to reach a goal or make somebody smile when they’re having a bad day by running down the road and looking like a goof, then I’ve done what I want to do,” he said.
Chris Hatler is a writer and editor based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but before joining Runner’s World and Bicycling, he was a pro runner for Diadora, qualifying for multiple U.S. Championships in the 1500 meters. At his alma mater the University of Pennsylvania, Chris was a multiple-time Ivy League conference champion and sub-4 minute miler.
