Kilts had a historic day Saturday on Cleveland's West Side as the 47th annual St. Malachi Church Run/Walk set an unofficial world record for the number of kilted runners in a single race. A final count will be made official by Guinness World Records soon.
The weather was too cold for most participants to wear their sport kilts without long pants beneath, but spirits were high for the record attempt.
Mark Durno, of Fairview Park, was one of the stewards on hand for the official Guinness World Records-sanctioned count of participants running in kilts.
“We’ve already counted over 3,000 runners today, so we’re going to beat the record,” Durno said as runners crossed the finish line during the first race of the day.
After the record-breaking two-mile run, a smaller group of runners participated in a five-mile race.
Tina Shi, an official representative from Guinness, oversaw the event, which was technically a record for the world’s largest kilt race in the sport kilt category. The record for traditional kilts is 3,670, held by the Perth Running Goats Club in Australia. Weather prevented Shi from traveling to the event in person, making Durno’s job more crucial.
“It’s just fun. We got a beautiful day, even though it’s cold. All the kilted runners, they just seemed very excited. We had a slight delay at the beginning, just because there were so many people here. Everybody was supportive of the delay and just happy to be out here,” Durno said.
The official count is limited by the number of witnesses and counters on hand. Each had the task of counting a certain number of runners and could not validate more than their share. That capped the count at the number of volunteers that can be fielded for the event — 40 in this case.
The final number that will be submitted to Guinness is around 3,000, though there were more runners than that in the crowd. The previous record for sport kilts was 2,040 runners, also set in Cleveland back in 2019 by Hermes Sports & Events, the organization that oversees the Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Run.
After the numbers are submitted and validated by Guinness, Shi, who monitored the event over live stream, will make the new record official.
Jalah Bell is a Cleveland local who participated to be a part of the world record after her aunt turned her on to the idea. Bell is a runner who completed a recent half-marathon, but said this was her first race in a kilt.
“It’s a lot more comfortable than I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be super airy and swinging open, but it was fine," she said.
Anthony Pookop, of Cleveland, is part of the St. Malachi Parish community. He helped promote the event on social media and ran in the record-setting two-mile run.
“I just do it for fun, and for a good time with my family and friends,” he said.
Another notable local made a noticeable — and timely — appearance. After a rash of Bigfoot sightings were recently reported around Northeast Ohio, an in-focus picture of one was finally captured at Saturday's run.
Jesse Meier, from Amherst, said he wears his Bigfoot suit during races and other public events. He claimed his appearance in character was coincidental to the recent sightings, which can at best be described as "unconfirmed."
Meanwhile, the St. Edward High School Trash Talkers provided runners with energy, rhythm and enthusiasm at the starting line. The band of young men smashed garbage cans with drumsticks with marching band precision during both races.
The annual event raises money for Malachi Ministries, which helps provide groceries and other community services to Clevelanders lacking food security.
The parish's community service brought Russ Schulte and his corgi, Jaxx, from Medina. They've watched the annual race several times in the past, but this was the first time Schulte donned the kilt and joined the run.
"They do a lot of hunger work and a great job providing for the needy here in Cleveland," Schulte said.
This year’s installment of the now-former record holder, the Cleveland St. Patrick’s Day Run, also took place Saturday just a short distance from the St. Malachi run in Downtown Cleveland.
There's no word yet on whether a kilted arms race has begun.
