'The London Marathon restores your faith in humanity'
Three women ran around the streets of the capital for the London Marathon to raise money for charities - and one broke a world record.
Alison Stewart, a teacher from Over, Cambridgeshire, ran the 26.2-mile course dressed as a Street Fighter video game character, and was the fastest to do so in three hours and 19 minutes.
Laura Bird, from St Ives, Cambridgeshire, raised £14,000 by running with a 25kg (55lbs) fridge on her back.
Jade Rush, a lead clinical nurse from Peterborough, ran the marathon for the charity Contact, which supports families with disabled children.
Ms Bird aimed to become the first women to run a London Marathon attached to a home appliance.
She needed to finish the run in under six hours to qualify for the record.
Ms Bird said: "Unfortunately I didn't get the record, I got around in about seven hours and 29 minutes.
"I am still unbelievably proud and to my knowledge, I am the first woman in the world to do it."
'Immersed in kindness'
After spending about eight-and-a-half hours in total carrying the fridge, Ms Bird told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire the only thing that did not hurt were her eyebrows.
"We got an absolute raucous of applause from the crowd it was incredible.
"The London Marathon restores your faith in humanity, when I was carrying the fridge so many people asked if I needed anything and told me to keep going.
"I was just immersed in kindness by strangers, some people even donated money by giving it during the marathon, I was so touched."
Jade Rush, a lead clinical nurse from Peterborough, ran the marathon in support of the charity Contact, which supports families with disabled children.
She only had about eight weeks of training after getting a running spot "at the last minute".
"It was my first time doing anything like this, it was incredible, and the atmosphere was amazing, it was just magical.
"It took me longer than I thought and at the 20-mile mark I started to wonder what I had done, but I got round in a time I am happy with."
Following the run, she added that she was doing "OK, as long as I stay very still and don't move".
Ms Stewart completed the marathon and achieved the world record for the fastest time covering the 26.2-mile distance as a female video game character.
She dressed as Chun-Li from the Street Fighter series and raised funds for East Anglia's Children's Hospices.
"It was electric," she said. "I did it in three hours 19 [minutes] which meant I got the record, my daughter was particularly pleased about that. I am still buzzing."
In 2019, the 44-year-old achieved the world record for the quickest marathon time dressed as a fairy tale character, completing the course as Snow White.
Guinness World Records confirmed that 44 official world record titles were broken at the 2024 London Marathon, from 74 listed attempts.
Mark McKinley, adjudicator for the Guinness World Records, said: "All of our 74 Guinness World Records attempts today have been a display of true determination and we are so happy to be able to award those that were successful not only the record title, but a place in the next edition of our book to share their achievement with the world."
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