A SACK-race champ whose 400m world record has been denied this week vowed to continue his fight for athletics glory.
Wroughton dad Stephen Wildish claims that Guinness denied him the 400m sack race world record.
They say that the 37-year-old graphic designer broke the rules – failing to keep his feet together in the hessian sack for the entire length of the race.
But Stephen, who ran the 400m sack race world record attempt in two minutes 54 seconds in October, suggested that the ruling could be unfair.
He says that athletics ace Mo Farah also held his feet apart during his successful 100m sack race world record attempt in 2014.
Stephen told the Adver: “It says in the guidelines that your feet should be together throughout the race.
“I watched the Mo Farah attempt many times and we jump exactly the same. There’s footage of him online.
“It’s confusing to me. I went back to Guinness and said this about Mo. They were quite blunt and said that Mo did the 100m – not the 400m.
“But it should be the same start position. Either my 400m attempt should be allowed or Mo Farah should lose his record. His feet weren’t together.”
But he admitted that the feet-placement problem put him in a difficult position: “I don’t want Mo Farah to get his record disallowed.”
Stephen vowed to continue his bid for world record glory: “I’ll definitely do this all again.
I will do this until I get this record. Even if it means I have to tie my legs together with gaffer tape, I will do it.”
Friend Jamie Stapleton, who has watched Stephen attempt both the 100m and 400m sack race world records, said: “I’ve known him a long long time. And if there’s one thing I know about him, he’s like a dog with a bone. Once he gets an itch under his skin, he won’t stop scratching it until it’s gone
“In my opinion, the sooner he can hang that record on his toilet wall, the better. Then we can all just get on with our lives.”
A spokeswoman for Guinness World Records said that she was unable to speak about unsuccessful record attempts.
She added: “However, this record will have been reviewed under the same standards as Mo Farah’s record attempt for the fastest 100 meters sack race.
“We really hope that Stephen is not discouraged from attempting to break records in future.”
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