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Minister raises record funding for flagship academies

-19/4/05

Baptist minister and Faithworks founder Steve Chalke is claiming a new Guinness world record for the largest amount of sponsorship money ever raised by an individual running the London Marathon.

Following sponsorship for his Flora London Marathon run at the weekend, Steve Chalke raised a confirmed £1.25 million, with monies received after the event still to be added to the final total. He will shortly officially submit his claim to Guinness World Records. (The previous record stood at £1.13 million.)

Funds raised by writer and broadcaster Steve, who is founder of registered charity Oasis Trust, will go towards Oasis Academies ñ secondary schools which Oasis Trust is sponsoring in Enfield, north London and in NE Lincolnshire (Grimsby and Immingham).

The Guinness world record was previously held by retired advertising executive John Spurling, who raised £1.13 million by running the Flora London Marathon in 1999. Steveís time in yesterdayís Flora London Marathon was 4 hours, 27 minutes and 50 seconds.

ìIt has been a fantastic, though exhausting experienceî, says Steve, aged 49 years and runner in four previous Flora London Marathons. ìAll I can say is a giant ëthank youí to every single person who has given to help me reach my goal. It feels great to walk away from the Flora London Marathon as a world record holder, but what matters far more is the difference this will make to literally tens of thousands of children, through the academies that Oasis Trust is buildingî.

With no world records broken in this yearís Flora London Marathon by any of the elite runners. Steve Chalke is believed to be the only 2005 runner to have broken a world record.

Approximately £35 million in total was expected to be raised for charity by runners in this yearís Flora London Marathon, making Steveís achievement a significant proportion of that total.