Darth Vader Runs Through Death Valley
People will do crazy things for Guinness World Records, even when you can make up a record for almost anything these days. Case in point: Jonathan Rice decided to run in Death Valley, the hottest place on Earth, dressed up as Darth Vader. He’s the creator of the Darth Valley Challenge, which requires participants to run a mile through Death Valley dressed as their favorite Star Wars character. Rice has been running the past three years, with his fourth run occurring a few days ago on June 30. This year, Rice was joined by supporters dressed up as other Star Wars characters, as well as a support driver dressed as Chewbacca.
So how did Rice do? Not only did he manage to finish his mile in 6 minutes and 36 seconds, he did it at 4PM, during which the National Weather Service recorded a temperature of 129 degrees, the hottest day ever recorded in June. Even for that short time, that’s a pretty incredible feat, considering how fast you need to run for a time like that. (For reference, as a member of my high school track team, my fastest time was a rather average 5 minutes and 15 seconds, on a regulation flat track, wearing extremely light clothing in very temperate weather.) Here’s hoping he didn’t have to spend time in a bacta tank afterwards!
Source: CNET