Saturday 22nd of September saw Schuco Bear meeting with fellow employees Matthew Birt and Giles Cuddy and limbering up for the start of the 9th annual London Gorilla Race in London. A 9 kilometre road race past some of the most iconic sites that London has to offer, dressed in a gorilla suit… Raising over £800 between them to help save the last 700 mountain gorillas in the wild. Matthew and Giles now had to come good on their promise to complete the race dressed in their gorilla outfits and it wasn’t going to be easy.
To keep things interesting both Matthew and Giles had decided to compliment their Gorilla suits with some extra clothing, after all you can’t have naked gorillas running around London!
Matthew made for the best dressed gorilla very literally indeed, complementing his gorilla garb with a bowler hat, neck tie and a very dashing moustache. Giles, finding it hard to separate from his passion for lacrosse, just threw his kit on top of his gorilla costume. Suitably attired and ready to go they headed to the start line with the 400 other competitors, some of whom had also accessorised. There were gorillas in bikinis, hippy gorillas, rock star gorillas and even an Abe Lincoln gorilla!
The sunny weather meant that even at the start line the competitors were getting a bit of a sweat on, the 9km started to seem a little daunting. However they both managed to complete the race in respectable times, Matthew after 48 minutes, Giles finishing with a time of 56 minutes. Plans have already begun to enter a larger team next year and take home the award for best dressed gorilla.
Schuco Bear was happy to hitch a ride round the course with Matthew and Giles and is already looking forward to next year!
Schuco 