Firefighter hopes to break the world half-marathon record in full work gear for charity

August 1, 2020

Simon Trye hopes to break a world record at the Auckland marathon in November.

Simon Trye hopes to break a world half-marathon record at the Auckland Marathon in November.

But, there’s an extra challenge involved. 

The 39-year-old is a crash rescue firefighter for the Air Force in West Auckland, and he’s hoping to take on the challenge in full firefighting gear to raise money for charity KidsCan. That’s an extra 24 kilograms.

The target time for the half-marathon Guinness World Record in full firefighting gear is three-and-a-half hours.

One of the worst parts of running with the gear on is the heat, Mr Trye told TVNZ1’s Seven Sharp.

“Just constantly being hot … it just compounds and compounds.”

He said the secret was “a bit of determination, a bit of grit and not wanting to give up”.

KidsCan also keeps him going.

“They do some real good work in the community helping out kids,” Mr Trye said.


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