Marathon man's record attempt

4th December 2015

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A marathon isn't enough of a challenge for Team BFF member Dan Jones. The father of two has to complete the 26-mile run with a 60lb pack on his back – while breaking a world record. Dan will be taking on the London Marathon in April next year, raising money for The British Forces Foundation, and is going to attempt the fastest marathon ever run while carrying a 60lb pack. He has registered the attempt with the Guinness Book of World Records. The current record is 4 hours, 39 minutes, 7 seconds held by Japanese army instructor Toru Sakurai, who completed the run during the Tokyo Marathon in February, 2013. Dan, who served as a Grenadier Guard in the 1990s, completed the London Marathon in 2006 and 2007, but injury put pay to his world record attempt earlier this year. Dan told the Cambridge News: "Running is great but I kind of like to really push myself to the limit. The guys are always doing silly things, and I always felt I sold myself a bit short with my army career. It was kind of a way to prove to myself that I could do something outside the box. "I did some training with the special forces reserve unit in Cambridge and we would do runs with a crazy amount of weight on our backs. I just went through the Guinness Book of Records and looked for something." He hopes to complete the run in around 4 hours 30 minutes. He is being sponsored by Richard Hobbs, of Precision Engineering, but hopes to make as much money for the charity as possible through donations. To donate visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DanJones35