Running in fancy dress

And you’ve probably wondered how they can do it and why. It’s bad enough running a full marathon in normal clothes, but in those outfits? We’ve spoken to some of the characters that take this unorthodox approach, to try and understand what drives them to do it and also to find out what it’s like going the full distance in those weird and wonderful costumes.

One of the first things that the average runner thinks is that the fancy dress brigade are a bunch of attention seekers that only do it so they can be the centre of attention. Others assume that they dress up because they can only ever run slow times anyway and this is a good way of disguising it. If you aren’t fast yourself this is another way of getting in the limelight.

For most of the ‘alternative runners’ this is not true on both counts. Many of those that you see huddled under a rhino costume or balancing something bizarre on their heads are actually supremely fit athletes. As for being in the limelight many of them are actually embarrassed by it and believe so much in what there’re doing that they regard the publicity as something to be dealt with.

That isn’t the case for everyone though, as many thoroughly enjoy the profile that they can sometimes get. But importantly of all the people we spoke to, no one gave the publicity factor as why they run in fancy dress. Why would they? There are much easier of getting publicity than donning heavy uncomfortable gear and running 26.2 miles in it!

So why do they do it? There seem to be many reasons, the majority based on wanting a challenge and doing something different. Many fancy dress runners are veterans of a number of marathons and are trying to push themselves a bit harder.

Others are trying to raise the profile of the charity they are running for or the business that is supporting them. Often it can be both the charity and the corporate sponsor that benefits. Both get publicity and the charity gets the money. For some runners though it is another way of enjoying the race itself. Running in fancy dress gives you a special and unique relationship with the crowd which you don’t get as a ‘vest and shorts’ participant.

Many of the crowd will have standing in the same place for hours and when they see a fancy dress competitor it gives them a bit of a lift which is then communicated back to the runner. Many may have seen the costume on the television broadcast earlier come down to the event and then see the runner in person. The feedback in this situation is priceless, so we were told by a number of runners who have experienced it.