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For many, just completing the Virgin Money London Marathon is a big enough challenge: but not for Dorset man Lee Collier.
The 42-year-old – who is raising money for Paddington’s favourite UK charity Action Medical Research – will also have his sights set on a new World Record.
“I’m going to try and break the World Record for running the London Marathon in the fastest time while dressed as a mascot”, says the Blandford Forum resident. “It’s not going to be easy, but then if it wasn’t a challenge it would be boring!”
Lee will be wearing a Paddington Bear™ costume for the marathon run on 22 April as Paddington is Action’s official mascot and has been at the heart of the charity’s fundraising for over 40 years.
And it won’t be the only time he’ll be donning the 5kg suit in 2018: “Last year I set myself the challenge of breaking two World Records – a half marathon and a full one.
“I was due to run in Bath this March but that race got cancelled because of the snow so I’ll be taking on the ‘Salisbury Half’ later on this year instead.”
Lee hopes to raise £2,000 as well as awareness for Action, a charity he discovered following some tragic family news in 2005.
“Sadly my ex-wife and I lost our little girl back in December of that year as she was born too early and asleep.
“My world fell apart. After a few tough years I decided that I wanted to try and help others not have to go through the same experience as we did. I fancied taking on a physical challenge like a marathon and went looking for charities that I could support.
“Action is just such a wonderful charity in that it helps fund research into a wide variety of conditions. I enjoy doing my bit to help raise awareness, knowing that the more money you raise the more chances there are of future medical breakthroughs.”
Action Medical Research is a UK-wide children’s charity which funds desperately needed research to tackle the diseases that devastate the lives of so many of our children. It has been funding medical breakthroughs since it began in 1952 including helping to introduce the first polio vaccines in the UK, developing the use of ultrasound in pregnancy and testing the rubella vaccine.
The charity is currently funding research into conditions including asthma, prematurity, epilepsy, meningitis, cerebral palsy, brain cancer and some rare and distressing conditions.
-ENDS-
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Lee will be available for interviews. Please contact Peter Denton (details below) to arrange a suitable time.
To download a photo of Lee:
https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/lee_collier.jpg
To download a photo of Lee running as Paddington:
https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/paddington_copyright_1.jpg
Read more about Lee’s preparations in this short blog:
https://www.action.org.uk/blog/2018/04/04/preparing-beat-2-world-records
Lee’s fundraising page:
https://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/LeeCollierVLM2018
Lee will be running with his girlfriend Alie and they both hope to raise £2000 each for us.
About Paddington:
For 60 years, British-born writer Michael Bond has delighted children and families all over the world with his stories about Paddington, the bear from Darkest Peru, famous for his love of marmalade. Paddington is popular with children and adults alike who feel affectionate and warm towards him; the charm and humour of the Paddington stories is the key to their enduring popularity.
Paddington’s adventures have been adapted several times for television and at the end of 2014 Paddington made his debut onto the big screen. The movie, produced by StudioCanal, part of the international content and media group Vivendi, is the best-selling non-Hollywood family movie ever released. A second Paddington movie, Paddington 2, launched globally at the end of 2017 to great critical acclaim.
In 2016, Vivendi took full ownership of the Paddington brand worldwide, with the exception of the classic publishing rights.
In 2015, in recognition of Paddington’s extraordinary popularity and success, Michael Bond was made a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for services to children’s literature. Michael Bond died in June 2017, leaving behind a legacy of one of the best loved children’s characters in the world. This year marks the 60th Anniversary of the first book, A Bear Called Paddington, which was published by William Collins on 13th October 1958.
Follow Paddington on Twitter at @paddingtonbear
Like Paddington’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/PaddingtonBear/
©P&Co. Ltd./SC 2018
Licensed on behalf of STUDIOCANAL S.A.S by Copyrights Group
For more information on Action Medical Research, contact Peter Denton, Fundraising Communications Officer, on:
T: 01403 327412
E:pdenton@action.org.uk
W: action.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter at @actionmedres and @amr_events
Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/actionmedres
Follow us on Instagram at @actionmedres and @actionevents
Action Medical Research is a leading UK-wide charity saving and changing children’s lives through medical research. For more than 65 years we’ve helped pioneer ways to prevent disease and develop treatments benefiting millions of people. Our research has helped to beat polio in the UK, develop ultrasound in pregnancy, fight meningitis and prevent stillbirths. But we urgently need to develop more new treatments and cures for sick babies and children and we can’t do it without you.
Join our fight for little lives today.
Charity reg. nos 208701 and SC039284.