Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich firefighters to chase three world records and £10,000 for charity at Ipswich Half Marathon

Four Suffolk firefighters are aiming to break three world records and raise £10,000 for charity in the process at a town half marathon next month.

Bury St Edmunds crew manager Paul Shattock and Ipswich East crew members Grant Whitehead, Ashley Buxton and George Trott will take to the 13.1 mile Ipswich Half Marathon course in firefighting gear on September 22.

Paul will be in full protective equipment and breathing gear, weighing in at around 57 kilograms, and will be breathing air from a cylinder.

His colleagues George and Grant will be wearing the same gear but not ‘under air’, while Ashley will wear a full training kit and breathing equipment.

The group will be running in aid of the Fire Fighters Charity and Cancer Research.

Paul said: “We’ve all been training hard as we really want to bring those records to Suffolk, but we couldn’t have done any of this without the fantastic backing we have had from our support team.

“It’s heavy kit and it’s going to be tough but we are doing this not just because we want to raise awareness about the fire service and its charity, but in memory of three much-missed friends plus other colleagues from the firefighting family who have been lost to cancer.”

The crew will under take the half marathon in memory of Michael Matthews, Trevor Bryson and Steve Simmons.

Paul will run in a brand new category – ‘the fastest half-marathon dressed as a firefighter with self-contained breathing apparatus and breathing air from the cylinder’.

George and Grant will be targeting the three hours and 10 minutes record for ‘running a half-marathon while in full firefighting protective equipment and carrying breathing apparatus but not ‘under air’’.

Ashley’s record target stands at two hours and 21 minutes.

Steve Wiles, Suffolk County Council cabinet member for public protection, said: “Just running the half-marathon under normal conditions is praiseworthy, but to set themselves the challenge they have is fantastic.

“I take my hat off to them and wish them all the very best. I look forward to them crossing the finishing line, to three new world records coming to Suffolk and a healthy sum of money raised for two very good causes.”

Anyone wishing to sponsor the firefighters can do so via their Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/team/sfrsworldrecord.

The Fire Fighters Charity is a welfare organisation which offers specialist and lifelong support for members of the UK fire services community.

A full set of fire kit comprises boots, protective trousers, smock and a helmet, which in total weighs 45 kilograms.

A fully-charged set of breathing equipment weighs around 12 kilograms.