Mad respect to anyone who finishes a full marathon, and a special shout-out to Lukas Bates, who crossed the London Marathon finishing line having run the entire race in a Big Ben costume.

He was attempting to beat the Guinness World Record for finishing a marathon dressed as a landmark (yeah – that’s a real thing), but rather ironically, ended up being stopped by the clock.

As in the clock that marks the finishing line, because he finished in three hours, 54 minutes, and 21 seconds, which is just shy of 20 minutes too slow to land the record.

He did raise more than R90 000 for Alzheimer research, though, and also became a viral sensation around the world, so it wasn’t a terrible day out.

Here’s Lukas, inside his Big Ben costume, struggling with that finish line:

Still far more elegant than many of the runners completing the 42,2 kilometre run.

So what’s happened to the costume now? Well, somebody’s only gone and nicked the bloody thing:

Lukas wasn’t the only person who dressed for the occasion. Here’s a compilation of other funny costumes on display during the race:

[source:huffpost]