Kids Run Free, Guinness World Records and FMBE team up behind triple treadmill record bid

Follow the attempt live: https://www.facebook.com/adamtangoholland

Kids Run Free ambassador Adam ‘Tango’ Holland has received the green light from Guinness World Records to attempt to become the fastest man in history to complete a half marathon, full marathon and 50km on a treadmill when he takes up the challenge on Saturday, May 30, at 9am.

The virtual record attempt comes with Guinness World Record’s full adjudication service, a process that has finalised for virtual records to help support record attempts that are made under lockdown conditions. FMBE’s Frank Wainwright has been a part of the consultation team to make sure that this bid would have official GWR status and to help bring the event live to a broad audience of experiential marketers.

The ultramarathon athlete is taking a break from training his two young daughters as mini-runners, but both children and his wife will be cheering on the 33-year-old when he laces up his trainers and clambers on to his garage treadmill for nearly three hours of pain, powered by the thought of pizza, cola and flapjacks – simple rewards for what will be a hat-trick of incredible achievements.

The former newsagent-turned-mattress maker – originally from Tavistock but now residing in Wellington, Somerset – is best known for completing 10 Marathons in 10 Days in the fastest time ever, a feat he completed in 2017, beating the previous record by over an hour. He was also the youngest athlete to notch up 100 Marathons in Europe when he completed the Eden Project course on 10/10/2010 as a 23-year-old, breaking the record of his running inspiration Steve Edwards.

Both achievements are already recognised and recorded in the Guinness World Records book, but he’s keen to add three more significant milestones to his list of accolades as well as drawing attention to charity Kids Run Free (KRF).

Holland will have to run at around 18.2km/h on average if he’s to break the fastest marathon run on a treadmill record of 2 hours 20 minutes. His time to beat for the fastest half marathon run on a treadmill is 1:10:42, while the fastest time to run 50k on a treadmill (male) stands at 2:57:25, achieved by Florian Neuschwander (Germany), but the Tavistock Athletic Club ultra-marathon runner is confident of success across all three distances this weekend.

‘It’s something I’ve been planning to do for a couple of years now, and lockdown has given me the perfect opportunity to do it, and I know I can do it,’ said Holland.

‘I suffer from dyslexia, but sport was my release when I was at school – and it still is. I didn’t have any great natural talent for running as a child, it was just something I did to get away from academic pressures. I played football, rugby and hockey – something I still do now – but I started to take running a bit more seriously when I was in my early 20s. Like any sport, you just have to want it more and more, the better you get – and I wanted to succeed, so whilst I wouldn’t say I was gifted, I did benefit from a mental toughness and it shows that if you want something badly enough, you can achieve it.

‘As well as having a strong desire to hold another three Guinness World Records titles, I really want to demonstrate my support for and raise awareness of Kids Run Free for which I have been an extremely proud ambassador since 2018,’ he added.

Kids Run Free provides running opportunities for children from toddlers to teens, regardless of background or fitness levels. Founded in 2010, KRF operates two running-based initiatives; Marathon Kids in school time, and Park Kids at weekends and during the school holidays. More than 140,000 children have benefited from the KRF programme of activity over the past ten years, with children completing laps of a 250m course which are added on to the Digital Tracking System (DTS) that showcases the distance each budding athlete has clocked up.

‘I am extremely-passionate about children knowing and understanding the importance of running and keeping fit, and this has obviously been heightened since my two daughters were born,’ said Holland.

‘KRF does an incredible job of offering solutions to teachers and parents to help kids get active, and hopefully I can help to inspire some more to run with an older sibling or parent, even in these times of lockdown,’ he added.

In addition to the two Guinness World Records, Holland was also England Athletics 50K Ultra Distance Champion in 2017, and has completed an incredible total of 477 marathons in his career, winning 265.

FMBE’s Frank Wainwright, himself an ultramarathon runner and writer, comments: “Adam is a hugely popular person in the running community, and Guinness World Records is a highly esteemed organisation that delivers great brand experiences in my business life. So seeing these two worlds come together, alongside a great charity, Kid’s Run Free, is such a pleasure to see. I can’t wait to help relay this triple bid.”

Of Guinness World Records, Frank commented: “Prior to lockdown we had been keen to put an audience together for a record bid by Adam. The enthusiasm and readiness with which GWR had flexibly revised plans and helped facilitate this – and other – record attempt under lockdown conditions has been commendably versatile. I am very impressed with the way in which GWR and, of course Adam, have moved across to this new way of functioning. I am certain that Adam will inspire other runners, kids and, in addition, other experience builders looking to build newsworthy creative virtual digital events.”

Adam can be followed live on Saturday from 9am.