World record marathon attempt for one Marine and his fridge

13 March 2023

The Royal Marine, based at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall, will take 'Fridget Jones' to London on the 23 April with hopes of smashing the world record for fastest half and full marathons, with a fridge. And after powering through the Brighton half marathon, is half way to glory already.

Sam Hammond said: "I am going for the Guinness World Record of doing a full and a half marathon whilst carrying a fridge. The record currently stands at two hours, 45 minutes and eight seconds for the half marathon, and the record for a full marathon is five hours, 49 minutes and 37 seconds."

His time in the Brighton half marathon a couple of weeks ago was two hours, four minutes and 13 seconds, smashing the current record. He will be taking on the London Marathon in April in a bid to meet the second half of the record.

The minimum weight for the fridge, according to the Guinness World Records, is 25kg. 'Fridget Jones' comes in at 26kg (roughly speaking, the same weight of an average eight year old), but it is not the weight that is an issue.

According to Sam, “The thing with a fridge is that it’s bulky and the weight isn’t close to your back, like a backpack or bergen would be. So the physics of it means that 26kg is more difficult to carry.

Last month Sam ran an Instagram poll to name his fridge, which he felt only fitting as they were going through so much together. His 900 followers suggested names including, 'Thaw' (Sam’s personal favourite) and 'FridgyMcFridgeFace', but 'Fridget Jones' gained the most votes.

Sam is currently based at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall and has chosen to raise funds for SSAFA throughout his record breaking attempts because of his passion for the military charity.

Sam says: “When you regularly have to go away for long stretches, several months at a time, it really affects the family that is left behind. If anything happened to me, I know that SSAFA will be there for my mum.”