A woman who has dressed up as a water bottle to go for daily runs for a year-and-a-half to raise awareness for plastic pollution is set to tackle the London Marathon in the costume as she wants to advocate without any “doom and gloom”. Nikki Hawkes, 28, a marketer in the technology industry, from Somerset, decided to set herself the challenge in September 2021, during a coronavirus lockdown, to run 100 miles in 10 days dressed as a water bottle – but she has not stopped since.
Nikki’s costume is made from a 10-year-old vodka bottle costume, from her family’s dressing up box, which she repurposed into a water bottle, stitching on plastic pollution awareness signs. Nikki gets a mix of responses to her water bottle on her daily runs, with some people sparking up a conversation about plastic pollution and others just giving her “weird stares”.
She got the running bug while studying at the University of Southampton from 2013 to 2016, when she joined Park Run as a free way to exercise and loved going to fancy dress socials – so, she wanted to combine her two hobbies and do some good at the same time. The fancy dress fanatic ran the Paris Marathon in 2021, but to her “absolute shock”, she was the only person in fancy dress – this year, she is planning on running the London Marathon for the charity Marine Connection.
“It (wearing the costume) feels like I’m getting the important message across while being funny and not being all doom and gloom,” Nikki said. Nikki first got into running when she was a student at the University of Southampton from 2013 to 2016, as it was a sport she could do for free.
She said: “I’ve definitely been into running for a long time. During university, I went to my first Park Run. It was just a cheap way to stay active, rather than paying for gym memberships, so that got the ball rolling.”
She continued going on daily runs after university, and in the middle of lockdown, Nikki set herself the challenge of running dressed as a water bottle to raise awareness about plastic pollution. She said: “I wanted a way of campaigning without it being all doom and gloom.
“I wanted to find a way of making a point whilst it being kind of fun, somewhat funny, and to grab attention and get people talking about the topic of plastic pollution. The way of doing that was by showcasing the burden we’re putting on the ocean by essentially wearing a big fat burden of a water bottle on runs.
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“It turns out it’s a very hot costume, so I feel like I get the message across in a funny way.”
To make the costume, Nikki repurposed an old vodka bottle costume from her family’s collection. She said: “It (the costume) belonged to a family member – my family have this big chest of fancy dress costumes from parties over the years.
“The costume is 10 years old – it was an old fancy dress vodka bottle, actually. I made it look like a water bottle by sewing bits on to the front of it.”
Nikki’s challenge combined her passion for the environment and her love of wearing fancy dress. She said: “I’m very passionate about trying to live a more sustainable lifestyle and, in particular, trying to ensure the plastic doesn’t find its way into the ocean.
“On a different part of my personality, I absolutely love fancy dress. During university, in particular, there were a lot of fancy dress socials. I would always go to them.”
As someone passionate about plastic pollution, Nikki tries to live the most sustainable life possible, explaining: “I think fast fashion is a big one. I try to avoid buying anything new at absolutely all costs.
“I think I probably draw the line at some items like underwear or cycling shorts, but I think it’s so easy to find nice second-hand clothes. Food and drink is a difficult one because it usually comes at such a high price – you have to meet it halfway with food and drink items in your everyday food shop. But I try as hard as I can.”
When Nikki goes on a run, often around Bristol’s suspension bridge, she turns many heads. She laughed: “To be honest, some of them (passers-by) don’t know what I am – they say, ‘Oh, look, here’s a giant toothpaste’.
"Others get it straight away and cheer along, but some people give me a really weird stare. I get people that stop and chat too, and you just have a really good productive conversation about plastic pollution and get the cogs turning.”
Despite strangers’ mixed reactions, Nikki’s loved ones support her running in her quirky costume. She explained: “My partner, Matt, is very supportive, and he’s very into fitness challenges, so he thought it was an amazing idea, and he’s also sustainably minded.
“My parents thought it was ridiculous, but they are supportive to no end. And honestly, I think they’d support me, whatever I did.”
After running around Bristol for 100 days in a row in her water bottle costume, Nikki decided she wanted to rank up the challenge and decided to run the 2021 Paris Marathon. She continued to wear her costume throughout training and still does to this day, but she had a shock when she got to Paris’s start line – she was the only one wearing a costume.
She laughed: “I was in absolute shock because I think I expected it to be like the London Marathon where there’s so much fancy dress. But, oh my god, there was not a single person in fancy dress.
“Everyone was in complete serious running gear. I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying to me because it was all in French, so I had no idea what anyone thought of it.”
Nikki is currently training for the London Marathon, set to take place on April 23, to raise money for the Marine Connection and has raised approximately £1,500. She said: “I think I’m on track for a three hour 45 minute time, hopefully, so that’s the aim.
“I was excited for the Paris Marathon, but I’m like really, really excited for the London Marathon because I know that there’s going to be lots of other fancy dress. I think there’ll be much more of a sense of community and I won’t stick out as much!”
