A man dressed as a gorilla is still crawling the London marathon
It's "absolute purgatory"
Running the London Marathon on two feet is gruelling enough for most participants.
But not for one heroic man, who is crawling the 26.2 mile route. Dressed as a gorilla. And he’s still going.
Though officially known only as ‘Mr Gorilla’, the ambitious competitor has been unmasked as Tom Harrison, a Metropolitan Police officer. He took on the challenge to raise money for The Gorilla Organisation, which aims to save endangered gorillas from extinction.
In order to imitate the primate’s movements, he is crawling on his hands and feet, keeping his knees off the ground. Exhausting stuff.
Four days in, Mr Gorilla is now halfway round the London Marathon route. The roads have long since reopened, but he is undeterred.
His unusual journey is gripping the nation. Appearing on ITV's This Morning, he said: “This isn’t really my ideal dream of a holiday, but it’s an adventure.” Part of his journey was then broadcast live.
Despite the obvious pain of the task, Mr Gorilla has been described as “lucky” by sceptics, who pointed out he has been able to stop and rest, unlike Sunday’s marathon runners.
According to his Just Giving page, Mr Gorilla “practiced crawling at least twice” before the marathon, describing the challenge as “absolute purgatory.”
Will he crawl across the finish line? (Is it even still there?) Or will he go bananas before he does? Stay tuned for updates.
You can donate to Mr Gorilla’s Just Giving page here.
