Heaviest Person to Complete a Marathon: Kelly Gneiting sets world record (Video)
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA -- Self-proclaimed "Fat Man" Kelly Gneiting, a 430-pound sumo wrestler and longhaul truck driver, finished the Los Angeles Marathon in 11 hours, 52 minutes, and 11 seconds - setting the new world record for the Heaviest person to complete a marathon.
Photo: Kelly Gneiting, 40, grabbed a Guinness World Record at the Los Angeles Marathon after he plodded across the finish line drenched in rain and with a time of 9:48:52. (enlarge photo)
The 400-pound sumo wrestler out of eastern Idaho smashed the previous Guinness World Record of 275 pounds and easily bettered his own unofficial personal best of 11 hours 52 minutes and 11 seconds.
Guinness World Records also recognizedthe world record for the heaviest competitive male bodybuilder: Daniele Seccarecci (Italy) whose competition weight is 135 kg (297.62 lbs). He was weighed on the set of Lo Show dei Record in Rome, Italy.
"I'd like to see the Kenyan improve his marathon time by two hours," Gneiting joked.
Gneiting, a three-time US national champion sumo wrestler, is six-foot tall with a five-foot waist. And stamina is certainly a strong suit: he once ate eight Big Macs at a single sitting.
Kelly Gneiting, who was the last of 11,891 men to cross the Los Angeles marathon finish line on Sunday, described the race as "pure hell".
According to the report, he had to obey traffic signals and walk on sidewalks for much of the race because the roads had already reopened.
"I was really struggling in the last five miles," he said, "but I said to myself, 'If I have to crawl, I will.'"
