A wine merchant who blind tasted a different glass of wine at each mile of the London Marathon on Sunday has said he feels “honored” his challenge went viral on social media, as he surpassed his fundraising target.
Tom Gilbey, nicknamed “the wine guy,” sampled 25 glasses of wine during the race, stopping to guess the drink’s grape variety, country of origin and vintage at each mile.
A video he posted on TikTok has amassed more than 3.2 million views. He had his first sip at about 9:30am, shortly after the race began.
Photo: Reuters
Gilbey said he aimed to raise £2,000 (US$2,487) for Sobell House hospice charity in Oxford, England, which looked after his mother in her final days of life.
His fundraiser has now passed £13,000.
On his JustGiving page he said he was running the London Marathon “to raise money for the wonderful team at Sobell House hospice, who nursed and cared for my dear Mum in her last few days,” and that he hoped to “not die doing it.”
Photo: Reuters
Gilbey, based in London, said the marathon went “really well” and that he had been spurred on by the treat of a taste of wine after each mile.
Of the 25 glasses sampled, Gilbey said he got four completely wrong, seven spot on and the rest mostly right.
He completed the race in 4 hours, 41 minutes, including stops for drinking.
“It’s my first experience of this going absolutely mad and I feel very honored,” he said. “It’s just incredible and it’s great because that’s what it’s all about. It’s for a great charity and they’re one of many hospices that just work their socks off to make massive differences.”
The wines ranged from bottles bought at gas stations, mini bottles and canned wine, to a £40 Barolo.
“It was hilarious because when you’re overtaken by a fridge and double-humped camel, you could get really depressed unless you knew there was a nice wine around the corner with some friendly faces to support you,” he said.
Gilbey, who runs wine businesses and events, said he had avoided feeling tipsy by only drinking small sips of wine, or by spitting it out after tasting.
“If they were good, I might swallow it and if they were bad, they went on the road,” he said. “I think the pain of the running allowed me to not feel anything other than the urge to finish. I think it’s a great way to stay sober.”
He celebrated his achievement by drinking a glass of champagne after completing the race.
“I was totally exhausted, totally cooked, but it was just such a great day and the atmosphere is just too fabulous for words so really, it doesn’t matter how painful it is,” Gilbey said.
Asked if he would ever take on a similar challenge again, he said: “One hundred percent not, but if you asked me if I would advise anybody else to do something like this, I would go, 100 percent yes.”
“I think in life, sometimes you get a silly idea that resonates, but two silly ideas rarely resonate, so I’d encourage everybody to have a silly idea for a good cause and see what happens,” he said.
Taiwan’s participation in the Olympic Games has been a story of politics as much as sports, with the name it has competed under since 1984 — Chinese Taipei — drawing as much attention as its athletes. However, with the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad set to begin in Paris on Friday, the exploits of Taiwan’s athletes past and present who have won 36 medals since the country’s debut in Melbourne in 1956 deserve a nod. Many of Taiwan’s medal winners have gained considerable name recognition, but only two have achieved legendary status — Maysang Kalimud and Chi Cheng, the only medal winners
Shohei Ohtani on Sunday hit a 473-foot (144m) home run as the Los Angeles Dodgers went deep six times in a 9-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Gavin Lux, Austin Barnes and Jason Heyward also connected as Los Angeles swept the three-game series. “Going into the break, we weren’t playing good baseball, and then to come out fresh against a really good ball club and to play the way we did — the offense came to life,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. It was the 25th time the Dodgers launched at least six homers in a game
Canada women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman on Wednesday said she would step away from the team’s opening game against New Zealand at the Paris Olympics in the wake of a drone scandal. New Zealand complained to the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit after it said drones were flown over closed practice sessions earlier in the week. As of press time last night, Canada, the defending Olympic champions, were set to open the Paris Games against New Zealand in Saint-Etienne. In the fallout of the complaint, two staff members — assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi — were sent home, the
Conventional wisdom dictates that the average retirement age for elite female players in the intense and physically demanding sport of badminton is well under 30 years old. Five female shuttlers are set to turn that on its head when they make their fourth Olympic appearances at the Paris Games, a feat never accomplished before. Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying, 30, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, 29, Belgium’s Lianne Tan, 33, and Hong Kong’s Tse Ying Suet and Canada’s Michelle Li, both 32, are to compete for Olympic glory at Porte de La Chapelle Arena from Saturday to Aug. 5. “These achievements get missed because they’re women,” said