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Remarkable footage has emerged of a man running the entire 42 kilometres of the London Marathon dressed as the Big Ben clocktower, a triumph of English eccentricity which the runner hoped would earn him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Lukas Bates attempted to break the record for the fastest marathon run while dressed as a landmark.

There is a record for that, apparently.

Bates didn’t quite break the record, partly because his Big Ben costume was a bit tall to fit under some bridges, so slowed him down. According to the BBC, the previous record stands at three hours, 34 minutes and 34 seconds, set by Richard Mietz at the Berlin Marathon last September.

Mietz ran the whole Berlin Marathon dressed as the Holstentor city gate in Lubeck.

Bates took 20 minutes longer than Mietz, finishing with a time of three hours and 54 minutes.

Bates told the BBC that having run in the London Marathon four times previously, “this year I decided I wanted to do something different, have a bit of fun and wear a crazy costume”.

Low bridges on the marathon route prove challenging for Big Ben

Bates also did it to benefit Alzheimer’s research in the UK, raising a great deal of money for an Alzheimer’s charity. Bates said he had lost two grandparents to the disease and this was his way of doing something about it.

Written by Peter Needham