Ice marathon runner dons polar bear suit, breaks world record

Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A British woman donned a polar bear costume to run a frigid Norwegian marathon and break a world record with her time of 4 hours, 58 minutes and 29 seconds.

Gill Punt, 54, a teacher from Essex, took on the PolarNight Marathon in Tromsø, Norway, which took runners on a dark mountain pass in temperatures of about 14 degrees.

Punt crossed the finish line in her polar bear costume, earning the Guinness World Records title for the fastest ice marathon dressed as a mammal (female).

Punt's marathon run raised $25,628 for charity Cancer Research U.K., bringing the total she has raised for the organization over the years to about $2.39 million.

Punt said she uses her runs to raise money for the charity in memory of her father, who died at the age of 56 in 1999.

"I lost my father at a young age to cancer of the bile duct and this awful event began my fundraising adventures for CRUK," she told Guinness World Records. "There is probably not a family in the U.K. or the entire world that has not been affected by this dreadful disease. So I will continue doing all I can to support CRUK in their vital work."