Colombian Runs Half-Marathon on Stilts, Sets Record

A Colombian performer just ran 21 kilometers on stilts faster than most people could run it in sneakers.

Santiago Vergara crossed the finish line at Australia's Ballarat half-marathon in 2 hours and 34 minutes, perched nearly a meter above the ground on wooden stilts. He needed to finish under 3 hours and 5 minutes to break the Guinness World Record.

"I'm exhausted, I'm tired, I'm really, really sore, but very, very happy," Vergara said after the race, beaming and barely breaking a sweat. The 33-year-old artist now needs to submit his evidence to Guinness officials for verification.

The stilt-walking spectacle turned heads before the race even started. Hundreds of runners stopped their warmup stretches to snap selfies with Vergara, who towered above the crowd on his signature stilts.

Other runners cheered and high-fived him throughout the course. The support carried him through kilometer 15, when faster runners began pulling ahead and his legs started to shake.

"The last part of the race was really difficult, and I was almost falling but I could do it," Vergara said. "I tried to breathe, and I did 2 hours 34 minutes."

Why This Inspires

Vergara's feat isn't about breaking records. It's about following your passion to extraordinary heights, literally.

"I've been walking on stilts for 18 years now, and I love my stilts with all of my soul," he said. "I'm looking for challenges all the time with my stilts, and not only that but I bring them everywhere."

He's taken his stilts to see the ocean for the first time, climbed them up to Machu Picchu, and walked them across mountains. For Vergara, the stilts aren't a gimmick. They're how he experiences the world.

He wasn't even the only adventurous athlete at the Ballarat marathon weekend. Four performers from the local medieval theme park ran the 5-kilometer race in full metal armor, finishing in under an hour.

Marathon organizer Adam McNichol says he welcomes the creativity. "We absolutely encourage this kind of thing," he said. "We have half a dozen Olympians running, but then we have our man on stilts."

One man's lifelong love of stilts just reminded thousands of runners that passion makes anything possible.