Royal Navy sailors battle strong winds to complete marathon first on HMS Queen Elizabeth
POWERFUL headwinds couldn’t blow these two sailors’ desires off course as they became the first to complete a marathon on Britain’s biggest warship.
Air Engineering Technicians Giorgio Zsirai and Calum Dee tackled the mammoth 26-mile challenge on board HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The pair completed an exhausting 88 laps around the warship’s enormous four-acre flight deck, finishing within five hours.
Keen runner AB Zsirai had planned to run the Manchester Marathon for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity in April.
But with the coronavirus pandemic dashing these plans, the eager athlete asked navy chiefs if he could instead complete the challenge on the 65,000-tonne Queen Elizabeth.
Hearing what he was doing, fellow runner AB Dee decided he would also take part.
He said: ‘I thought it would be a bit harsh running around the deck by himself so I tagged along.’
Both hit ‘the wall’ at 15 miles but managed to finish with AB Zsirai finishing in four hours and 45 minutes and AB Dee in four hours and five minutes.
AB Zsirai said: ‘The wind was really rough, I definitely should have trained more.’
HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to return to her home in Portsmouth later this week to replenish stores before heading out once again, next week.
Both AB Zsirai and Dee work in the £3.1bn warship’s air engineering department on board Queen Elizabeth which is responsible for supporting the F-35 Lightning jets and Merlin helicopters when they fly from the deck.
They will be kept busy next month when UK operational F-35s join the carrier ahead of more training as she continues her preparations for next year’s deployment.
Both the sailors are now keen to do the London Marathon next year.