A graduate has become a Guinness World Record holder after completing the BUPA Great Birmingham Half Marathon dressed in a nurse’s uniform.
Steven Bazell, a MEng(Hons) Mechanical Engineering graduate from Stoke-on-Trent broke the unusual record by over five minutes with a time of 01:20:39 to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House Charity.
Steven chose the charities after his son was born with a complex congenital heart condition. His son, Thomas, has undergone two open heart operations and one key-hole procedure at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and will need another open heart operation in a few years’ time.
“I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been involved in my son’s care which made me set myself the mammoth challenge of raising money, I’ve raised about £1,500 now which is £500 more than my target,” he explained.
Thomas has spent three months in hospital on four separate occasions on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit and Neonatal Cardiac Ward. During this time, free accommodation for his family was provided by the Ronald McDonald House Charity in their purpose-built building located next to the hospital, which has en-suite bedrooms for sixty families.
Steven, now an Engineer for AMEC revealed that his employers have also donated.
“My employer, AMEC kindly agreed to match £1,000 in donations and my colleagues have already helped my fundraising by donating consumables such as toiletries, cleaning products, tea and coffee to help other families staying at the Birmingham Ronald McDonald House.”
The original record stood at 01:25:56 and Steven was always confident he could beat the time.
“I always believed that I could beat the current record, having run 1hr 14min 30sec for a half marathon a few years ago, although it was a challenge wearing a nurse’s dress, apron and a nurse’s hat,” he added.