A team of runners donned a TTC streetcar costume at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon over the weekend, racing toward their second Guinness World Record.
The group, consisting of Dekel Chui, Tom Brooks, Jared Nylander, Derek Beaton, and Andrew Bondoc, call themselves 5treet Car. The five friends are all members of RunTOBeer, a free local run crew venturing on three to 10-kilometre runs to nearby breweries.
This is the team’s second year taking on the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Last year, they took home the Guinness World Record for Fastest Half-Marathon in a Five-Person Costume. On Sunday, they geared up to take home their second feat, but this time, for the full 42-kilometrerun.
The idea for the group costume came from desiring a display that both symbolized their connectedness as friends, while also representing the city. They landed on what is arguably one of Toronto’s most iconic and easily identifiable figures: a TTC streetcar.
“A lot of the other costumes were kind of generic, in a way. You could run them anywhere and it doesn’t really mean much,” 5treet Car member Tom Brooks explained in an interview with Now Toronto on Monday.
The marathon route included running along Bathurst and Wellington streets, roads that have regularly operated streetcar service. Brooks said the costume was a good connection to home turf, especially while running along the streetcar tracks for many kilometres.
“It’s kind of serendipitous in a way,” fellow member Andrew Bondoc added, pointing out that a streetcar also has five sections.
“We couldn’t think of a better symbol for our city.”
Lining up in order of height with the shortest person at the front, Brooks, who was further at the back, said it was initially a challenge to get the right footing, especially with straps over their shoulders holding up the streetcar costume. Through adjusting pacing and constant communication, they headed toward the finish line, clocking in at just under four hours (03:59:01 to be exact!)
“You’re not just running on your own,” Brooks said.
“It’s a full team effort for four hours, which is challenging, but also super rewarding. It’s something that the five of us will share forever, which is very, very cool!”
While gaining another world record is worth celebrating, the group is most proud of raising over $5,600 for Annex Cat Rescue, a local charity dedicated to eliminating cat homelessness. Four out of five runners have cats, including team captain Dekel Chui who obtained his cat from the organization, making this race the purrfect fundraising initiative.
“It’s a charity that really resonates with all of us, and we really appreciate what they’ve done,” Brooks said.
“Yes, we are double record holders – it’s a slight flex – but I think the more important thing is that we surpassed our fundraising goal by at least a couple of hundred dollars this year,” Bondoc said.
With a new world record pending approval, the team says they are unsure what next year’s marathon has in store. Bondoc said this marathon was a first for 5treet Car member Derek Beaton, which he jokingly referred to as his “one and done.”
“He said, ‘No more marathons.’ But that doesn’t mean we can’t do a 50-kilometre ultra marathon,” Bondoc teased.
