‘I could hear the Arctic wolves howling’: Woman runs marathon in polar bear suit, sets world record

Despite their heft, polar bears are speedy – they can run as fast as 40kmh.

But it is quite another thing to see one cross the finish line of a marathon.

That was what (sort of) happened on Jan 4 at the PolarNight Marathon in Tromso, Norway, when a woman donning a polar bear costume finished the race in 4hr 58min 29sec.

With her feat, Ms Gill Punt goes into the Guinness World Records as the fastest woman to complete an ice marathon dressed as a mammal.

“I was terrified at the start, it was minus 14 deg C and the temperature was even lower on the mountain pass,” the 54-year-old physical education teacher from Britain told broadcaster BBC.

“I could hear the Arctic wolves howling, it focuses you to keep running, but the visibility from the head of the outfit was really difficult, I could only focus on the couple of metres ahead of me.”

Despite the race’s hostile conditions, it was “an exhilarating adventure to run in such stunning scenery with kindred spirits and raise money for a worthy cause at the same time”, she told the Guinness World Records.

She raised nearly £21,000 (S$35,000) for charity Cancer Research UK with the marathon effort, the organisation reported on Jan 22.

Ms Punt first set a world record – the fastest marathon in a full-bodied animal costume – after finishing the 2016 London Marathon. She was also dressed as a polar bear, the mascot animal for the charity.

She has now raised over £1.96 million for the charity since she started fund raising almost 27 years ago, just shy of her lifetime goal of £2 million.

Ms Punt said her fund-raising journey began after her father died from bile duct cancer at the age of 56 in 1999.

“There is probably not a family in the UK or the entire world that has not been affected by this dreadful disease,” she said. “The number of cases is rising, so it has never been more urgent to beat cancer.”

“I think there’s still one more adventure to have,” said Ms Punt, adding that she will continue to enter endurance events until she reaches her goal of £2 million.

“I will keep going until we reach the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer.”