A cricketer is believed to have broken the Guinness World Record for the longest bowling run-up while raising £5,000 for Mind UK.
Tom Dunn, 27, from Bethnal Green in east London, donned his full white cricket gear and held a ball as he ran 24.5km (15 miles) before bowling the first bowl at a match on Wandsworth Common for the Dell Boys Cricket Club (DBCC) which he co-founded with friend Charlie Kitcat.
The partnership manager for a sports platform told the PA news agency his club started four years ago just before the UK went into national lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic and it has since “strengthened friendships”.
“The Dell Boys was created to bring people together, get people chatting, get people talking, get people just having a laugh, because we all know how important that is to your mental health,” he said.
“A few of the Dell Boys themselves have either struggled with mental health or been affected by friends and family with mental health, so we thought (Mind UK) was just a really important charity to raise money within our group, but also raise money for them so they can keep continuing their amazing work.
“During lockdown, it’s quite widely known that people did struggle with their mental health, so that’s why we thought this idea would be absolutely perfect… we thought what better way to bring people back together by just playing a few games of cricket each season?”
The club raises money for charity every year but this year Mr Dunn wanted to create its biggest fundraiser yet by running along the Thames path and past the capital’s well-known landmarks such as Tower Bridge, the London Eye, Big Ben and Battersea Power Station.
“For this particular match each season we always raise money for charity… we thought this year how can we make it a little bit different? How can we raise even more?” he said.
“I was having a look at different Guinness World Record attempts thinking what we could do. This one popped up. The current record sits at 7.8km and I just thought, I can definitely give that a crack.”
Mr Dunn started a JustGiving page and raised more than £2,300, which he was “absolutely blown away by”, and raised a further £2,700 on Saturday through a charity auction and raffle, taking his fundraising total to £5,000.
He added that fundraising for Mind UK felt poignant as it would help bring wider awareness about men’s mental health and wellbeing.
“I think it’s quite widely known that sometimes men are not particularly good at talking about their feelings or how they are. I think there’s definitely an added thing where it’s bringing all the guys together just to have a really good laugh,” he explained.
“We’re quite a tight-knit group outside of cricket as well, so I think it’s definitely helped strengthen relationships and strengthen friendships.”
He said co-founding the cricket club was “probably one of the best things we’ve done as a group of mates because it does really just bring people back together”.
He added: “If there are any groups of mates out there who are thinking about doing the same thing, I would 100% just go for it.”
The previous record of 7.81km was held by Brendan Ingle, from Australia, but Mr Dunn’s attempt is in the process of being ratified by Guinness World Records.