by Simon Artymiuk
AN East Cornwall runner has set a new world record – as the fastest postman to run a marathon in full postman’s uniform and kit.
Darren Evans, 39, was brought up in Looe until the age of 18. He later bought a house in Launceston where he continues to live in Robin Drive and to do the rounds as a postman in the town.
Darren likes to keep fit and ran the London Marathon in both 2014 and 2019, but this year he thought he would choose a different marathon and would also set himself the challenge of beating a previous world record time for a postman running a marathon in full kit of three hours 45 minutes.
He decided to make this attempt in last weekend’s Manchester Marathon and to take part in memory of former Launceston postman colleague Phil Newman, who tragically passed away with brain cancer just a few months ago.
Darren set up a JustGiving page raising funds for Cancer Research UK and on his page explained: “I will be attempting to break the current Guinness World Record-holders’ time of 3:45hrs dressed in full postman uniform with bag as well as 10lbs of weight inside.
“The record will be an added incentive to help raise as much money as I can for a great charity and to remember all those we’ve lost to the terrible disease.”
Proud Mum Jill Neale lives in East Looe in Elmtree Road and has lived in various houses in the town for 50 years. She went up to Manchester to watch the marathon and managed to catch sight of Darren running at the 18th mile – but the look on his face told her what a feat of endurance running with the sack, let alone the full kit, was for her son.
At the finish line she was able to lean over a barrier and hug him but such was the crowd and the need for him to keep walking at the end of his run that she wasn’t able to get near enough to take a picture of him receiving his medal.
Soon after completing the marathon, Darren posted on his JustGiving page, showing a time of 3:41:22, saying: “Well everyone, it’s not been officially verified yet, but I ran under the 3:45 I needed so as far as I’m concerned I am the Guinness World Record Holder as the fastest postman dressed as a postman. Thank you to all my supporters and I hope I’ve done you and especially Phil Newman proud.”
Jill said she’d since heard from Darren that he has bruising around his shoulders and a cut partway down his back as a result of carrying the bag and said that, at the moment, Darren was saying: “Never again!” – but she didn’t doubt that once the wounds and tiredness had passed, he’d be setting himself other challenges in the future.
She said they had been assured that his new achievement would feature in the next Guinness Book of World Records.
As the time of going to press, Darren’s JustGiving page had so far raised £3,416 for Cancer Research UK.
To add to that total visit his JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/darren-evansgwr40