A WROUGHTON dad has smashed Mo Farah’s world record for the 100 metre sack race.

On an overcast day at the County Ground athletics track, Stephen Wildish hopped over the line in just over 28 seconds – smashing the Olympics running ace’s previous record of 39.91 seconds.

Still panting after jumping his way to a new world record, the 36-year-old joked: “I’ve told everyone that I have always been the best. Now they’ll believe me.”

The dad-of-two took up the challenge after recently trouncing a friend in a sack race.

The graphic designer, who is Swindon born and bred, was once reigning champion in the sack race at Colebrook Junior School.

Stephen told the Adver before his record attempt: “I’ve bragged for years that I have been undefeated in the sack race. Since school I’ve always won the races – I’ve even got a video of me arrogantly stopped just before the winning line, waiting for the others.

“Someone said recently – ‘put your money where your mouth is’. I beat him in a race.

“I went down to the local school, where they’ve got a 100-metre track marked out and I smashed Mo Farah’s record.”

Holding the stopwatches to verify his world record attempt were husband-and-wife pair Sarah and Bryan Clinton from the Swindon Harriers.

Sarah, bookings secretary at the Swindon athletics track, said: “This is the first request we’ve had for this. It’s quite cool really.”

Watching on were Stephen’s family and friends. Wife Susan, 45, was joined by the couple’s two children – who had special permission to take the afternoon off school.

“I had to sign the form to say why they had to come out of school. I wrote: ‘world record attempt’.”

The Wroughton mum said of life with Stephen: “There’s never a dull moment.”

Brother John Wildish, 47, said: "I thought it was a joke at first."

Pal Jamie Stapleton, 35, has known Stephen since they were both children. “At ten he was phenomenal and he has been training for 25 years since then,” he joked.

After the race, Jamie said: “It’s a good record. It’s not by a gnat’s whisker, either. It’s by a country mile.”

Currently, the Stephen’s 28 second sack dash will remain an unofficial world record. It could take up to 12 weeks for inspectors at Guinness World Records to check all the paperwork and declare a new world record.