A new Guinness World Record was set at the Great North Run earlier this month by Ian Pickett, Senior Partner at Drayton Partners who took on a rather unique challenge for industry charity GroceryAid.
Pickett set the fastest time for completing a half marathon… in a gingerbread man costume. He finished with a time of one hour and 29 minutes, beating the previous record by just 72 seconds. To put this amazing effort into perspective, the race’s winner Mo Farah clocked 59 minutes 26 seconds, while the average finish time at the 2015 event was over two hours 12 minutes.
Once he’d got his breath back Ian Pickett said: “I’ve always been absorbed and amazed by the concept of a World Record and the race gave me the perfect chance to tick three of my interests off. One; do the run in food-themed fancy dress, two; support our [Drayton Partners] nominated charity GroceryAid and three; break a World Record.
“It was certainly a challenge in the heat and keeping the costume in one piece, but it was certainly worth it. Knowing that I was supporting others was a real motivation to get the job done. I would definitely encourage people to think about what they might challenge themselves to do to help others that are less fortunate.”
His efforts have so far have raised over £1,500 for GroceryAid. To boost this total please visit Pickett’s justgiving.com page.
If you would be interested in participating in a challenge event for GroceryAid get in touch via events@groceryaid.org.uk or call 01252 875925.
