Mr Gorilla Has Finished The London Marathon Six Days Later

Every year the London Marathon presents a bunch of new heroes. From the fella who stopped his own race to help-out a struggling competitor; to Jonny Benjamin and Neil Labbourn who ran side-by-side 11 years after Neil talked Jonny out of taking his own life; and not forgetting Josh Griffiths, the amateur who beat elite runners to become the first British man to finish the race.

Because the London Marathon isn't just a showcase for athletes, it's also a wonderful display of sportsmanship, determination and generosity.

And so, to Mr Gorilla, who has finally finished the London Marathon after six days.

Look at him:

Credit: Twitter/@GorillaSaver

Inside the suit is 41-year-old Metropolitan Police officer Tom Harrison, who began the race at 10.34am last Sunday.

But it's not that Tom Mr Gorilla is a particularly poor runner, it's just that being a gorilla, he had to crawl the whole way.

His torturously slow race has resulted in him raising an impressive £25,725 for - what else? - The Gorilla Organisation, absolutely smashing his original target of £1,750.

If you think finishing the race six days after everyone else would mean that there was no one there to cheer him on, then you are seriously underestimating this gorilla's charms.

Hundreds of people turned out to see him crawl across the finish line, including his sons, who were dressed as baby gorillas, and Bill Oddie.

Mr Gorilla has documented his travels on Twitter, sharing lots of selfies with members of the public as well as clips of him crawling. He's proven to be a very popular man/gorilla.

He even met Spiderman at one point.

It might seem like a bit of fun, but Tom really put himself through it for the race. If you think running a marathon is tough, try crawling it.

During his training, he tried out several techniques to try and give himself a pain-free race, but found that none of them were ideal.

He shared a photo of his battered knees earlier this week, after he found that the kneepads he had been using were more of a hindrance than a help.

The money he's raised will go towards helping endangered gorillas in Africa.

Well done, Mr Gorilla.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19