London Marathon's 'Wine Guy' Surpasses £13k Fundraising Target, Sampling 25 Wines Along the Way
Tom Gilbey, a wine merchant and avid runner, completed the London Marathon while blind tasting a different wine at each mile, raising over £13,000 for a hospice charity.
His challenge, which involved guessing the grape variety, country of origin, and vintage of each wine, went viral on social media, with his TikTok video garnering over 3.2m views.
Gilbey started his wine tasting at around 9:30 am, shortly after the race began.
A man named Gilbey aimed to raise £2,000 for Sobell House hospice in Oxford through running the London Marathon in memory of his mum who received care there before her passing.
His fundraiser has surpassed £13,000.
Gilbey shared on his JustGiving page that he was running to honor the hospice team and jokingly hoped not to die during the race.
He ran the marathon while sampling a glass of wine after each mile, tasting a total of 25 wines.
Gilbey completed the marathon in 4 hours and 41 minutes, including stops for drinking.
He reported getting four wines wrong, seven correct, and the rest mostly right.
A man expressed his excitement and honor during his first participation in a chaotic wine race for charity.
The event featured various types of wines, from inexpensive ones to expensive barolo.
He found humor in the unexpected obstacles, such as being overtaken by a fridge and a double-humped camel.
Despite the challenges, he remained cheerful knowing that the event supported hospices making significant differences.