DRAFT Magazine

I’ve written about Guinness before, but this is different.

Ian Adamson is the first (multiple time) Guinness World Record holder featured on the Beer Runner. The Director of Product Development for my favorite running shoes, Newtons, is also hands down the most decorated athlete on this blog to date.

Adamson owns six world championship adventure racing wins, 15 world championship podium finishes and is a three time and current world record holder for endurance kayaking — 262 miles in 24 hours.

Not only that, he drank with Don Johnson from “Miami Vice” during a race.

Beer Runner: What are your beer runner credentials?

Ian Adamson: I’m a perennial consumer of hoppy adult beverages and beer is my preferred post workout hydration drink.

IA: Winning a seventh adventure race world championship when I was clearly old and decrepit. I’m certain my consumption of the appropriate pre, post and in-race liquid nutrients were the key.

IA: The consumption and cultural embedment of beer is instilled in Australians from youth. We drink quantities of the amber liquid that astound visitors, and with paradoxical ease and responsibility. Like Europe, consumption of alcohol is encouraged rather than prevented at a young age, so binge drinking is rare and drunk driving is verboten. Blood alcohol limits for drivers are very low (0.02% compared to 0.05 to 0.08 in the US) and penalties are extraordinarily stiff (drunk driver deaths are treated as manslaughter.) More importantly it is socially unacceptable to drink and drive. CA is akin to the state of New South Wales, although NSW is about twice the size although it’s the third smallest state in Australia. If you saw the movie Australia, the big ranch they were talking about was bigger than Texas, which gives you an idea of the scale of things. I grew up and went to college in Sydney which is similar in climate to LA with a large waterway like San Francisco and water like Florida. Consequently the climatic impetus to drink beer is strong …

IA: Virtually every race I competed in at a professional level involved beer. We usually indulged pre-race to relax, and post race to celebrate. We also lost a world cup in 200 in Aspen by seconds because we had stopped for a drink mid race with Don Johnson (of “Miami Vice” fame). I think the story makes up for the loss and make the event all the more memorable.

IA: Beer. Joking, that’s afterward. Truthfully the lure of a cold draft at the finish is part of it. My main motivation though the 24 was to have the best paddle I could and set a record that is hard to break. So far it’s stood up, and I was pretty happy with it.

BR: Did you celebrate getting into the Guinness Book of World Records with a Guinness?

IA: The first time I set the record in 1997 I had Guinness at the end, but the final time in 2004 I wasn’t as organized on the beverage front and settled for a can of Molson.

BR: Anything else to add?

IA: I read a report of a Spanish study that found drinking a beer after exercise hydrates you better than water. The buzz is a bonus.