Calgary couple breaks world record by running a marathon handcuffed – Calgary | 24CA News
Rich and Megan MacDonald are celebrating their twentieth wedding ceremony anniversary and they’re nonetheless inseparable. It helps that they’re handcuffed.
The couple ran the 2023 Servus Calgary Marathon on Sunday morning sure collectively by a sequence on their wrists.
“It was amazing,” Rich mentioned after the race. “Megan did nice. At about 36 kilometres she mentioned ‘for a 10 year anniversary you got me diamond earrings and for our 20 year anniversary you made me do this.’”
The Calgary couple broke a Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon by a mixed couple handcuffed together. The MacDonalds’ completed the 42.2 km occasion in 3:18:38, 25 minutes quicker than the earlier world file.
The couple already has 5 GWRs between them.
Their efforts raised greater than $8,000 for MitoCananda, a charity that helps help and shield Canadians residing with or liable to growing mitochondrial illness.
“It was pretty special to do it with Rich,” Megan mentioned.
“It’s a pretty neat way to celebrate and seal our bond a little bit more. It was tough out there. I felt like I was pushing pretty hard but Rich was a good cheerleader.”
The couple mentioned one of many greatest challenges is maintaining the rhythm for that lengthy a time period.
“They are both exceptionally fit people. It can’t be understated how big of an accomplishment that is,” mentioned Jon Bird, interim govt director for Run Calgary.
Fortunately, Calgary runners didn’t should endure by means of horrible air high quality because of the wildfires.
Last week, the total marathon in Red Deer was canceled and runners had been moved to the half marathon.
“We were deeply concerned that we would be faced with 7+ (air quality) and have to reduce and modify or cancel,” Bird mentioned.
Some individuals moved their coaching indoors and a few marathoners scaled again to compete within the 10k as an alternative.
“We saw a reduction in our numbers. I would say about 500 or 600 runners less than we were projecting. We still have a really strong year – stronger than pre-pandemic … We’re excited about that,” Bird mentioned.
The ladies’s marathon was gained by Maria Zambrano in 2:48:02. Lance Risseeuw gained the boys’s occasion in 2:36:04. Both winners are from Calgary.
A complete of 9,259 runners, wheelers and walkers participated within the Servus Calgary Marathon on Sunday.
The occasion raised greater than $475,000 for charity. Over 1,000 volunteers had been concerned.
To prime it off, 22,000 Rum and Butter chocolate bars had been handed out this yr.
That was a part of the 130,000 extra bars Canadian Candy Nostalgia gave away in Alberta after pandemic delays left the native firm with a surplus.
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