Last weekend, a marathon was held in London, England.
Among the many runners, one named Tom Gilbey stood out, not to run a marathon, but to drink......
(Tom Gilbert)
Tom is a well-known vintner who shares all sorts of wine-related knowledge on social media.
(Tom of the Peace)
This time he went to the London Marathon, in fact, to raise funds for charity.
Some time ago, his mother passed away, and for some time before she died, a local hospice had been taking care of her, so that the old man had passed away very peacefully.
Tom was grateful for all the hospice had done for his mother, so he decided to raise money for the agency in the form of a challenge in this competition.
(During Tom's Drinking Challenge)
Before entering the competition, Tom announced the content of the challenge.
His son prepared him 25 different brands and vintages, ranging from high-end wines to bargains bought from the gas station.
Tom tastes a wine every 1 mile during the 26-mile (about 42-kilometer) marathon and guesses the variety, country of origin and year of the wine.
(Challenge Demo)
Two days later, the race began, and Tom set off with two wine glasses in his belt......
(Tom is taking out the wine glass from his belt)
Tom got off to a good start, tasting the right red wine from the first glass, a 2018 bottle of Burgundy Pinot Noir.
(Image via Tiktok)
And then the second cup,
(Image via Tiktok)
Third Cup......
(Image via Tiktok)
Tom was still sober in the first few glasses, until he reached the 14th glass, when he began to stagger a little under the influence of alcohol and fatigue, and he was less sensitive when tasting wine......
(I guessed all the wrong in the 14th cup)
When the 20th cup begins,
(Image via Tiktok)
Cup 23: "Hour again!"
(Image via Tiktok)
But Tom persevered and completed the tasting marathon in 4 hours and 41 minutes.
In the end, 7 of the 25 wines were completely correct, 4 were incorrect, and 14 were basically correct, which was not easy......
(Tom crosses the finish line)
Tom later said that in order to avoid getting drunk during the run, he would only take a small sip of wine, and if it was good he would drink it, and if it was bad he would spit it out.
(Bad wine is wine that has deteriorated, oxidized or fermented due to improper storage)
As a result, he was "cheated" by his own son......
He didn't know what kind of wine his son had prepared at first, and for the first few miles, his son prepared a lot of good wine for him, which made him relax his vigilance, and then he suddenly drank a large sip of sour bad wine, and he was stunned......
(Hideously drunk)
But in the end, he completed the challenge, which made him feel very lucky.
After crossing the finish line, Tom celebrated with another glass of champagne, saying that although he was exhausted, he really had a good day.
As for netizens, they also found this challenge very interesting, and ridiculed one after another:
"Actually, I completed the challenge last night, I just didn't run..."
(Image via Tiktok)
"I'm interested in this kind of marathon, hey. ”
(Image via Tiktok)
"Next time, try the Médoc marathon, which has about 20 official wine and food stops along the way. ”
(Image via Tiktok)
"It's impressive to drink while running, but what's even better is how many wines he guessed correctly!
(Image via Tiktok)
"So how the hell did you guess the year?"
(Image via Tiktok)
"I run a marathon?
I run a mile to have a glass of wine and repeat it 26 times?
(Image via Tiktok)
Eventually, Tom's challenge garnered extraordinary attention and allowed him to overfulfill. He intended to raise £2,000 for a hospice charity, but the end result was more than eightfold......
(Tom's Fundraising Page)
When asked if he would take on the challenge again, Tom said:
"100% won't, but if you ask me if I would advise others to do something similar, I'd say, must!"
(Tom's Challenge)
However, from a scientific point of view, it is not advisable to replicate Tom's behavior.
Ultramarathon runner James Ellis explained that red wine is rich in polyphenols, which do help suppress inflammation in the muscles.
But on the other hand, the side effects of drinking alcohol during running are greater.
First of all, alcohol increases heart rate and blood circulation, while running further increases heart rate, and the cardiovascular load is too high, which is likely to cause danger.
Secondly, after drinking, people's control over the body will be reduced, and uncoordinated running posture can put pressure on the joints at least and cause falls and bumps.
Finally, running can cause the body to sweat profusely, and if you drink a lot of alcohol, your body will be severely dehydrated, and your body will easily experience fatigue, cramps, and muscle strain.
(Schematic diagram)
In short, although Tom's marathon drinking challenge is interesting, everyone should not imitate it, just look at the excitement~