This Guy Just Ran The London Marathon In Ski Boots

[sigallery id=”d9cNhaP8pStKE9m7pHv6u5″ title=”The London Ski Boot Marathoner” type=”sigallery”]

[All photos courtesy of Al Machell’s Facebook Page]

And you thought walking up stairs in ski boots was tough.

On Sunday, a Hertforshire man ran all 26.2 miles of the London Marathon in a pair of 15 year-old, vintage Salomon boots reports planetski.eu. Al Machell garnered media attention as he lined up at the starting mark donning a mandex, Spyder ski racing suit and alpine ski boots before pulling down an inspiring time of 8 hours and 1 minute. While some runners would say that time is terrible, those runners never put their ankles and knees through 26.2 miles of heel-toe miles in ski boots. Also, those runners aren’t Al Machell…

Since the age of 6, Machell has lived a skier’s life. In his earlier years, Al competed as a speed skier until he suffered a horrific crash in Verbier in which he dislocated his shoulder and suffered numerous other injuries at the age of 21.

During his crash, he was going over 100+mph.

In addition to his speed skiing woes, Machell also battled a brain tumor and a kidney issue that is thought to be the result of over 3 years of chemotherapy. Ultimately, Machell’s tumor was removed and he received a kidney transplant that ended his speed skiing career.

But that wouldn’t stop Machell from skiing.

In an interview with planetski.eu, Machell talked about what inspired him to wear ski boots in the race.“Funnily enough I was skiing in the Italian resort of Selva in the Dolomites this winter and there is an awful lot of walking to get to the lifts. I didn’t really mind it and the idea of doing the marathon in ski boots just popped into my head.”

And while 8 hours and 1 minute is far from a record marathon time, Machell is applying for Guinness World Record recognition for his ski boot adaptation of the classic Greek race.

Al hopes the record will raise awareness and money for the two charities that are closest to his heart, The Brain Tumour Charity and The Royal Free Kidney Patient Association.

A day after the grueling race, Al’s spirits remained tip-top– “I feel surprisingly fine today, though I’m looking forward to seeing my girlfriend later as she is a physio and will help me with some muscle aches.” As for the boots– Al claims, “they were brilliant”