Five NYC-based runners attempt to break marathon world record
On Dec. 5, friends and training partners Chris Solarz, 37; Brad Weiss, 41; Stephen England, 35; Joe Eagan, 37; and Justin Wood, 30, will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the Fastest Marathon as a Linked Team at the Rehoboth Beach Seashore Marathon. To qualify for the record, all five runners must remain tethered together by a rope for the duration of the 26.2-mile race; the clock stops when the final runner in the team crosses the finish line.
The NYC-based marathon runners have each run multiple sub-3-hour marathons and have collectively run almost 400 marathons on all seven continents. Collectively, they’ve finished the NYC Marathon 33 times and have run marathons as fast as 2:38. They’ve run marathons with 50,000 finishers and a marathon with just 18 finishers. These runners have pounded the pavement in marathons all over the world - down the Champs-Élysées in Paris and past Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur - but their biggest challenge yet will be the mean streets of Rehoboth Beach this Saturday!
The current record time of 2:54:17 was set at the Bucharest International Marathon in Bucharest, Romania, on Oct. 6, 2013.
On June 4, 2011, three of the teammates (Chris Solarz, Brad Weiss, and Stephen England) along with Terence Gerchberg and Francis Laros broke the existing Guinness World Record for the Fastest Marathon as a Linked Team at God’s Country Marathon in Coudersport, Pa. The record has been broken numerous times over the past four years, and the NYC-based crew hopes to bring the record back home to the Big Apple. The Rehoboth Beach running community wishes the team good luck.
Marathon numbers
The RBRC Seashore Marathon and Half-Marathon is around the corner, kicking off at 7 a.m., Saturday morning. The marathon has just over 1,100 runners entered, while the half has nearly 1,900 entered. The field of 3,000 will take off from the Rehoboth Beach Bandstand. Throughout the 26.2-mile course, the runners will pass 10 water stops which they will have access to 18 times throughout the course. The following groups will be manning the stops: Start, Rehoboth Beach Running Company; Deauville Beach, Rotary Club; Gordons Pond, Beacon AVID Group; Herring Point, Friends of Cape Henlopen State Park; Fort Miles, Seashore Striders XC Team; Cape Henlopen State Park entrance, Boy Scout Troop 2540; Lewes Beach, MERR; Grove Park, Coconut Grove Group; Canal Pointe, Cape High School Honors/Leo Club; Wolfe Neck Road, Sussex Tech XC.
The marathon water stops will use between 615 and 630 gallons of water, and 82 cases, or 309 gallons, of Gatorade. That's 118,320 ounces of water, 40 tables, 30 trash cans, and approximately 50,000 cups along the course.
About 3,000 race numbers and 12,000 pins will be used at registration, while over 100 volunteers and safety personnel from eight agencies will be used along the course.
The community is asked to share the road and to plan accordingly, as there will likely be delays along Duneway Drive, Columbia Avenue, Canal Corkran Road, Hebron Road and Glade Road. In Lewes, expect delays on Cape Henlopen Drive and Lewes Beach. The Seashore Striders and Rehoboth Beach Running Company thank you for all the Cape community support.
Cape indoor track off and running
The 2015-16 chapter of the Cape Henlopen indoor track & field team is off and running, and with the mild weather kicking off the start, it’s been more like an outdoor season. The teams are small, with the boys fielding about 30 athletes and the girls fielding about 20 athletes.
The boys will be led by Matt Lindell and assisted by Rob Perciful and Ellis Gaulden, while I will lead the girls and be assisted by Gilbert Maull, Jamie Hill Loucks, and volunteers Liz Guida and Jamie Witherspoon. The teams will travel to Snow Hill, Md., Wednesday, Dec. 9, for their opener at the Worcester Indoor Facility and the Snow Hill Invite. In all, 20 teams will come together to compete in events from the 55-meter dash to the 3,200-meter run, with field events consisting of the long jump, triple jump, high jump, shot put and pole vault. Good luck to both Cape teams as they kick off the 2015-16.
