Kamil Suleiman reigning from Cape Town is one of the world’s latest Guinness World Record holders. His achievement however is certainly not something most have heard about before.
To raise awareness for the “Palestine cause,” Suleiman ran the fastest marathon time while dressed as a leprechaun.
With his beard dyed bright red and a green outfit to match, he set out to achieve the record at the Berlin Marathon on September 29, achieving a time of two hours 58 minutes.
The new record was officially entered into the Guinness World Records and can be found on their site as “The fastest marathon dressed as a leprechaun (male) is 2 hrs 58 min 01 sec, and was achieved by Kamil Suleiman (South Africa) at the BMW Berlin Marathon, in Berlin, Germany, on September 29 2019. Kamil was wearing a full leprechaun costume with his beard coloured in red.”
“I attempted the same record last year in London, and missed it by 15 seconds. This year I went and took my revenge and beat the record by 89 seconds, to be exact,” Sulieman told TimesLIVE on Sunday.
Sulieman is an avid runner and hopes to run more races in future, but maybe in a little less bizarre attire.
The Palestinian cause is one that is close to Suleiman’s heart because although he was born in Ethiopia, he considers himself a Palestinian by heart. He has lived in South Africa for nearly 16 years.
A Palestinian flag accompanied him throughout the race and he chose the outfit because it was “mischievous” and unoffensive.
“It’s really awesome. When you have an extreme feeling … the first thing is shock. It takes a while to sink in. The real feeling hit last night [Saturday]. I was on the radio [doing an interview] and I was emotional. It’s something I do for a cause, but I’m someone ordinary,” he added.
Pictures: Facebook
