A Putney-based police officer who completed the London Marathon crawling in a gorilla costume has been nominated for 'Creative Fundraiser of the Year'.
Tom Harrison, also known as Mr Gorilla, has raised more than £40,000 after crawling the race dressed a gorilla, taking him six days to finish the 26.2 mile route.
It took the father-of-two roughly ten to 12 hours every day, with him swapping between his hands and knees and up on his hands and feet to save his blistered feet.
He said: “To be honest, the first few days were a bit lonely. For some reason I thought I’d do nine miles per day but on the first day I did about four-and-a-half miles.
“I think at the end of that day it kind of dawned on me that it was going to take a lot longer [than I expected].”
MORE: Marathon monkey business as ‘Mr Gorilla’ Met officer finishes 26-mile route
Mr Harrison, 41, had to take more annual leave than expected, spending nights away from home with a friend during it, but also had people come down for support.
He added: “They would point out little obstacles for me because when I was crawling I couldn’t see very well ahead and I had to keep lifting my head up to see where I was going.
“They’d point out lamp posts, dog poop, or anything I didn’t want to hit.
“I’d done a small bit of crawling by going around one of the local football pitches, but just doing maybe a mile along soft grass was completely different to doing miles on hard pavements.”
His cause was being shared by his supporters on social media as it began to gather attention, with him being contacted by a radio station in Ireland before being followed by cameramen from a media agency.
Two men from Hungary came to London just to see him and a woman from the Docklands baked him banana muffins.
Tom Harrison on his journey. Photo: The Gorilla Organisation
He said: “I think on that third day we’d hit £15,000 and Jillian Miller [chief executive of The Gorilla Organisation] contacted me and she was really, really excited.
“She said, ‘We’ve just passed £15,000’ and I said ‘Cool, let’s double it’.
“I said it tongue-in-cheek but we did, and more, over £40,000. It’s made me think what the heck I do next dress as a gorilla.”
Asked about how it felt to raise so much, Mr Harrison said: “Those first two days I was thinking, ‘Oh you buffoon, you’ve got to spend six days now painfully crawling around a marathon’.
“But it was so nice that it picked up and people were so interested in it.”
He began by raising money through bake sales and street collections but met his £1,750 target when he completed the marathon in April.
Jillian said Tom has broken all fundraising records for the charity, saying: “I had to eat my words because of the way it captured people’s imagination.
“People responded so well.”
Mr Harrison’s fundraising campaign is one of three shortlisted in the 'Creative Fundraiser of the Year' category for this year's JustGiving awards.
To vote, you can visit here.
If you wish to donate, you can visit here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mr-gorilla
To learn more about The Gorilla Organisation, visit: www.gorillas.org
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