The beer mile is a race that believes in staggered starts. Of guzzling. Corey Bellemore is enjoying the golden age of dominance in the beer mile, where athletes chug a beer, then run a lap of a 400m track, then drink another beer, and so on, until a mile is completed. The beer must be at least 355ml (12oz) in volume and no less than 5% ABV, with contestants choosing their own beer and whether to use cans or bottles, according to Guardian sport.
Vomiting draws a penalty of running an extra lap as per rules
The 30-year-old Canadian has won the Beer Mile World Classic a record five successive times. The international event brings together the best beer guzzlers while also running a mile, in a sport that Guardian quoted Beermile.com as calling “equal parts gastric challenge and athletic endeavor.”
I think a lot of people think maybe I’m a booze bag, maybe a bad influence because I’m doing these races,” he mused to Guardian of the obvious optics, when alcohol is known to be harmful.
“From a young age – and this is not beer related – if I had to consume a bunch of liquid after running practice, I could finish the entire water bottle in a very short time. Electrolyte mix, Gatorade, whatever it was, I could down it as quick as I needed to get it in,” Bellemore told Guardian. “So I knew I could chug from a young age.”
At the Beer Mile World Classic in Portugal, in late July, Bellemore broke his own world record for the beer mile, setting the new mark in 4:27.1. The fastest non-beer time is 3:43.13, set by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1999. El Guerrouj did not drink four beers during his run, Guardian noted.
A competitive runner at university, specializing in the 800m and 1500m, Bellemore had a stint at international athletics events, but veered towards the beer-bolt at 21.
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“I didn’t go searching for it. It kind of found me,” Bellemore told Guardian. “I
tried the beer mile in 2016 just for a bit of fun, with my twin brother monitoring my times and beer consumption and a friend filming the endeavor,” he said. His maiden run broke the record unofficially and a Youtube video catapulted him into grin-and-beer it fame.
“I woke up the next morning to a message from an account called Beer Mile World Classic,” Bellemore told the paper. “They just happened to be hosting a competition in London, England, that weekend. They said: ‘We’ll pay for your flight. We’ll pay for your trip. Do you think you can get on a flight tonight and come here for this weekend?’”
He was jet-lagged and had only one race experience of guzzle running but he won the Beer Mile World Classic, beating England’s Dale King Clutterbuck by 15 seconds.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
