London Marathon runner with hemiplegia achieves Guinness World record!

On 21 April thousands of people ran the London Marathon to raise for their favourite charities. We were excited to see one of our HemiHelp Facebook Group members was one of those runners  – who also broke the Guinness World Record for the person to run the fastest marathon with hemiplegia!

Huge congratulations to inspiration, Anthony Bryan on his record-breaking run!

We caught up with Anthony after this epic effort and he told us: “For the majority of my life I was always told I couldn’t do this or that. But I was very stubborn and determined to prove them wrong. Even now I’m older people still told me I shouldn’t run the marathon – it’s not possible or you will injure yourself! Again, this just made me more determined to prove them wrong.

“I was paired with a guide runner for this run through the Richard whitehead foundation which help runners with disabilities get involved in running. I can safely say I am so thankful to my guide as he was by my side the whole run! Because I can only use one hand I can’t run and open a bottle of water at the same time! (Hydration is a key part of running!). So, my guide collected water for me on route. He also helped tie my laces before the run, helped open gels or any nutrition things I needed to eat and  helped navigate me safely round the course! These are all things the average person wouldn’t need to think about, but when you have a hemiplegia these are vital things that are needed!”

Feel inspired to run next year’s London Marathon and raise vital funds for us at the same time?

If Anthony’s has inspired you to run next year’s London Marathon then get in touch with us: fundraising@contact.org.uk.

We have four Marathon places available for runners who’d like to raise funds for HemiHelp – and we’ll be there to support you in your fundraising journey from the word go!