Two keen runners from Co Tyrone are celebrating after setting a new Guinness World Record for running a marathon while handcuffed to each other.
Tattyreagh man Daniel Gallagher, 33 and Omagh native Jack Meegan, 28, smashed the unique world record time at the London marathon on Sunday.
They finished the race well under three hours with a time of 2:53, with the previous record having been set at 3:15 in Canada in 2019.
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“It was a great experience but it wasn’t easy,” Daniel told Belfast Live.
“Around the 30km we had tape underneath the handcuffs and with it being a wet day it started to come off and the wrists were getting a wee bit sore.
“Me and Adam had a done a lot of training for it and were very focused on trying to get under three hours so to do 2:53 was a bit of a surprise.
Remarkably, the pair had only had their first practice run in the handcuffs just the day before the race, and still went on to run their own personal best times close.
“This is my eighth marathon and it was Jack’s fourth, we only met last year when we both did the Boston marathon.
“We got chatting about different things and a seed was planted about trying to break a world record.
“We started looking up online and we saw the handcuff record and knew both of us had the ability to give it a go.
“Living in two different places we just trained separately over the last three months. The first trial run we did was the day before over just two and a half kilometres.
“We were a bit nervous about that because we didn’t know how it would go really until that point. It was a bit risky leaving it last minute but thankfully it went well.
“Towards the last few kilometres the technique was definitely starting to get a bit ropey but we were able to dig deep.”
Daniel added that he raised money for Alzheimer’s Research UK, after his grandmother had died following a battle with the illness last year.
“It was a bit surreal holding the award afterwards, the family definitely thought it was a bit of a joke initially, but they were real proud to see it then.
“It was a bit of fun but I was raising money for Alzheimer’s Research ad my granny passed away last year, so that was a great incentive as well.”
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