Not many college students are able to boast the title of world-record holder.
But ask Jake Brewer, Chris Patrick and Richard Alverson, and they can say they assuredly are.
These three Auburn students are now the world record holders for the fastest 10-kilometer run in a beach relay in Gulf Shores.
Guinness Book of World Records was even there to snap some photographs and award them the title.
Brewer, originally from Phenix City, has been running since the seventh grade, and first participated in Smith Station's cross country and track teams.
A senior in exercise science, Brewer runs individually on campus, but also participates in Saturday runs with organizations such as Big Dog Running Company and AORTA, Auburn-Opelika Running and Track Organizations.
Through Big Dog, he met one of his relay teammates, Richard Alverson.
Running in mostly 5K's, the 10K in Gulf Shores was a bit of a change for Brewer.
"I found out about the (World-Beater All-Beach 10K) Race and Relay on the AORTA website," Brewer said. "It was completely spur of the moment, and it was really cool because we were trying to win a Guinness World Record. They had four wheelers following us, and guys on the back were videotaping us so that we couldn't cheat or anything."
A 10K is equivalent to 6.2 miles, and this specific 10K was exclusively on sand.
Alverson said how difficult it was to run the race.
"It was the hardest race we've ever run," Alverson said. "It was a relief when we finished because that meant the race was over. When you run on land, it's easy to maintain a fast, consistent speed, but this race was different because there was not a lot of hard sand to run on."
Alverson is a Talladega native, and recently graduated from Auburn with a degree in software engineering.
Moments before speaking with The Plainsman about the race, Alverson finished an 18-mile run at Chewacla, and said he plans on pacing a friend at a two-day, 100-mile run Sept.13.
The anchor of the team, or the last in the relay, was Patrick.
Patrick graduated from Auburn with a degree in health sciences and ran with Brewer in high school.
"I kind of knew we were going to win when I saw Richard and saw that we were really far ahead, we were two minutes ahead of the other team," Patrick said.
The race began in Gulf State Park's Cotton Bayou beach complex and continued to the end of East Second Street.
The first race started Aug. 10 at 6:45 a.m., and was sectioned off into two, two-mile sections and one 2.2 mile stretch.
Brewer, Patrick, and Alverson finished the 6.2 miles in 42 minutes 17 seconds.
"I never expected to break a world record or something unless I was in the Olympics," Brewer said.
Brewer is running a half marathon in September in Talladega, Ala., while Patrick said he plans to start back in competitions when track season comes around at the end of February or early March.
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