Bristol Rovers fan Josh Fish has decided to raise money for the club’s Community Trust by entering the London Marathon – and he’ll be trying to set a new Guinness World Record at the same time.
For the teacher from Bristol is combining his love of the Gas and his marathon-running challenge – and he’ll be trying to set a new world record for the fastest marathon ever run by someone dressed as a pirate.
The Guinness World Records have strict guidelines for attempts at the pirate marathon record – people must run the full 26 miles and 385 yards, and the entire time he has to be dressed in full pirate attire, which includes a hat, eyepatch, pirate shirt, trousers, boots and a sword. Parrots are optional.
Josh is getting stuck into the training for the marathon – and he has until April 27, the day after Rovers’ last home game of the season against Reading, to get up to pirate marathon record-breaking speed.
He’s set up a fundraiser on the JustGiving website, and has already had hundreds of pounds pledged, and is well on the way to reaching his target of £1,000. Josh is racing for the Bristol Rovers Community Trust. “As a Bristol Rovers fan who lives in the local community, I have been fortunate enough to see the brilliant work that the Community Trust do for people of all ages,” he said.
“I am proud and excited to be able to support them to continue the brilliant work that they do. All hopefully whilst putting a smile on peoples faces,” he added.
As a teacher at a local secondary school, Josh said he has seen first-hand the incredible impact of the Community Trust’s work. “A lot of our students have been supported by the Trust, particularly those who are more vulnerable,” he said.
“I’ve seen how valuable their work is, and I also see the difference they make in our wider community. This is my way of giving back while doing something fun and different,” he added.
According to the Guinness World Records website, it looks like Josh just has to finish the marathon and keep his pirate gear on to be a new Guinness World Record holder. The record books currently have a register entry for the ‘fastest marathon dressed as a pirate (female)’ – which was posted by Eva Ellis at the London Marathon in 2023, with a time of 3h 31m 27s. There is also a record for the fastest half marathon dressed as a pirate (male), which was set in London in April 2023 by Thomas Langdown in a time of 1hr 28m 43s.
In the same London Marathon that Eva Ellis set a female world pirate marathon running record, the Exmouth Journal also reported that Dave Stone from Exmouth was planning on entering as a pirate, but mystery surrounds why the Guinness World Records doesn’t have a world record registered for a pirate man running a marathon – either Dave didn’t enter in the end, didn’t finish or he wasn’t suitably pirate-like by the time he did complete the course.
- For more information about Josh’s pirate marathon mission, to track his training progress and to donate to his campaign, click here.