Cleveland Hosts a World Record: A Guinness Story in Tartan
The St. Malachi Church Run/Walk added an international distinction to one of Cleveland’s longest-running St. Patrick’s season traditions this year, setting a Guinness World Record for the largest sport-kilt race. On March 14, the race drew 3,385 officially counted participants in sport kilts, breaking the previous world record of 2,040, which had also been set in Cleveland, on March 17, 2019.
The achievement brought new attention to an event that has been part of Cleveland’s St. Patrick’s Day season for decades. Organizers saw the effort as about more than publicity. As organizer Sharon Lowe-Chapman put it, the record could help “grow it and invest in the future.”
The race dates to 1979. By its second year, organizers had established the two distances that still define it today: a two-mile race and a five-mile race.
A combination category for runners who complete both has also grown in recent years, increasing from 100 participants last year to 176 this year. That structure has helped the race appeal to a wide range of participants, from more serious runners to families, walkers and people looking to begin St. Patrick’s Day festivities with a shorter route.
Guinness World Record
This year, the race also had a larger footprint around town. Lowe-Chapman described race day as “quite the spectacle,” with “so many kilted runners” and “a little buzz around ” that lingered well after the finish. That visibility mattered to organizers, who viewed the Guinness attempt as both a celebration of the race’s history and a way to introduce it to a larger audience.
The event is also a significant fundraiser. Lowe-Chapman said proceeds support St. Malachi’s food ministries, including weekday meal service, the long-running Monday Night Meal, and Saturday morning breakfast. The race also helps fund rent and utility assistance and supports a YMCA youth diversity partnership, “We Run the City,” which brought 100 children into this year’s race at a reduced cost. Organizers also use the event to recruit volunteers, giving runners the option to join a service database when they register, and then return to volunteer throughout the year.
That charitable focus has shaped the race’s development over time. Lowe-Chapman said parish leaders began looking more closely at the event when the church was facing a $100,000 deficit and the race was returning only about $3,000 to the parish. She said the race was gradually restructured, first through a lower-risk arrangement and later with fuller parish control.
Since then, the event has generated more than $100,000 annually for the church. Lowe-Chapman, who took over the race in 2018, said the goal has been to make it “beyond just a fundraiser” and “also a ministry.”
This year’s record attempt added another layer of complexity to an already large operation. Among the biggest issues was a last-minute problem with the kilts themselves.
Lowe-Chapman said nearly 1,000 size-small kilts turned out to be too small for most adult participants, forcing an emergency replacement order during race week. She said the vendor rushed production and international shipping, and the church ultimately received another 1,000 kilts on Thursday before the Saturday event.
Guinness logistics created another set of complications. The adjudicator scheduled to travel to Cleveland was first delayed by high winds and then rerouted through Washington, D.C., where a chemical spill shut down the airport.
St. Malachi was also dealing with power issues during setup. Lowe-Chapman said that by that point she felt like “a disaster magnet.” In the end, Guinness agreed to conduct the adjudication remotely, with a key volunteer using a phone to walk the adjudicator through the event in real time.
Organizers also had to adapt quickly to Guinness counting rules that arrived only about two weeks before race day. Lowe-Chapman said Guinness required one counter for every 100 participants and allowed only manual clickers, not the timing technology the race normally uses. That meant finding roughly 40 additional counters on top of an existing volunteer force of about 150.
The race itself also looked somewhat different this year. The course was adjusted so runners could go up onto the Shoreway, a route Lowe-Chapman said was encouraged by the city for safety reasons because it has fewer access points and stronger barriers. Organizers plan further changes next year, especially around the two-mile start, after identifying congestion points this year.
The post-race Hooley remained a major part of the day. This year’s celebration expanded to six locations, including Flat Iron Cafe, Great Lakes, Market Garden Brewery, Nano Brew, Clandestina and the Irish Town Bend Taproom. Lowe-Chapman said the Irish band Evergreen wrote an original song for the event, “Down at St. Malachi,” weaving in references not only to the run and Hooley but also to the parish’s ministries.
Year after year, the St. Malachi Church Run/Walk continues to stand out. It is a running event, but it is also a parish fundraiser, a neighborhood tradition and, increasingly, a larger public marker of the St. Patrick’s season in Cleveland.
The Guinness World Record marks a defining moment in the race’s history – but for organizers, it is just the beginning. The 48th Annual St. Malachi Run/Walk is already set for next year, March 13, 2027, and planning is underway to build on this year’s momentum.
As the event approaches its milestone 50th running, organizers are launching a multi-year effort to create a more connected participant experience, with swag that evolves year over year and gives runners a reason to keep coming back. Registration for the 2027 race is expected to open in mid-September, marking the halfway point to St. Patrick’s Day and the official kickoff to the next chapter of the event. While the record brought new attention, the long-term focus remains the same: growing participation, strengthening community, and expanding the impact of Malachi Ministries.
References
Guinness World Records. “Largest Kilt Race (Sports Kilt)”; “Largest Kilt Race (Traditional Kilt)”; “Our Story”; “How to Set or Break a World Record”; record-format and guideline materials.
St. Malachi Church Run/Walk. Event information, race materials, and Guinness-attempt details.
Lowe-Chapman, Sharon. Interview with the author, March 27, 2026.
News 5 Cleveland. Coverage of the 2026 St. Malachi world record.
Scotland.org. Materials on tartan and Highland Games traditions.
Sport Kilt. Company history and background on the development of the sport kilt.
Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. “St. Malachi Church.”
Malachi Center. “Our History”
