London Marathon: Make-up artist hopes to be fastest drag queen

A hair and make-up artist is attempting to become the fastest male drag queen to run the London Marathon.

Ryan Walklett, 30, will be donning a blue and silver bodysuit, complete with rhinestone trainers and a long blonde ponytail.

He hopes to win a Guinness World Record by running 26.2 miles in under four hours.

Mr Walklett will be raising money for the Terrence Higgins Trust which informs about HIV and sexual health.

He said his drag outfit, which has similar colours to the Terrence Higgins Trust logo, was inspired by drag queen A'Whora, who appeared on the second series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK, and by the USA relay team running gear.

Mr Walklett, from Bermondsey in south-east London, ran his first half-marathon in drag in 2019. For the London Marathon, he questioned whether the glitter on his outfit might become an issue during the race.

He joked: "The glamorous problems I've had was how much glitter is too much glitter? How do I still be glittery, but then not have it running to my eyes?"

Mr Walklett hopes that running in his drag outfit will break what he says is a stigma around sports and the LGBTQ+ community.

"It was one of those things at school where if you were a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and doing PE, it didn't seem to correlate," he said.

"I love the idea I'm pulling them together. It's seeing somebody combining sport and being the member of the (LGBTQ+) community... just having that visual representation."

He hopes his drag-inspired run will encourage the LBGTQ+ community to try new challenges and wants to see more drag queens running the London Marathon.

He said: "None of us are assigned to boxes and you can do whatever you want.

"Actually, I can do what I love and I can put those things together and they don't have to be separate entities."

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