One man. One Paddington suit. Two World Records?

A Dorset man’s currently training for two marathon runs for children’s charity Action Medical Research, which he hopes will bring him two world records.

Lee Collier, 42, a photographer from Blandford Forum, will be taking on the Bath Half Marathon and the Virgin Money London Marathon for the children’s charity.

Dressed as Action’s mascot Paddington Bear™ he aims to break the records for ‘Fastest marathon by a mascot (male)’ in each race.

Lee, who has been supporting the charity for 10 years, knows it’ll be a tough challenge: “The times I’ll have to beat are difficult, but then if it wasn’t a challenge it would be boring!

“I’ve done a few endurance events in the past – and I’ll have a couple of training runs in the suit before the Bath race to get used to the costume – so I’m ready to give it my best shot.”

The times Lee will need to beat are 1:37:03 for the half marathon and 3:17:57 for the full one.

Lee hopes to raise £2,000 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:

To download a photo of Lee:
https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/lee_collier.jpg

To dowload a photoof Lee in the Paddington suit:
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/2018/02/19/dorset-man-prepares-break-2-world-records-action

Lee’s fundraising page:
https://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/LeeCollierVLM2018

About Paddington Bear:

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.