The ‘Ecto-six’ take on Ghostbusters World Record Marathon attempt

A group of six runners from around the UK who met at the London Marathon and stayed friends through Facebook are aiming for their second fancy dress themed Guinness World Record London Marathon effort.

Last year, four of the group set a new world record for the ‘fastest marathon in a five-person costume’ all dressed as characters from Scooby Do in their Mystery Machine, clocking a time of 6:17:26. This year, the team are going one better by running for the ‘fastest marathon in a six person costume’ with two new runners joining.

The team, calling themselves the ‘Ecto-6’, have all been affected by cancer and met running the London Marathon, raising funds for CLIC Sargent, the UK’s leading cancer charity for children and young people. The group stayed in touch via Facebook coming up with their new record attempts and encouraging each other with their training.

One of the team, Ceyhun Uzun, from Sidcup, who ran as ‘Scooby Do’ last year, was inspired to join the team in memory of his daughter Tanyel who sadly passed away in January 2016 after being diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, Ewing Sarcoma, in July 2013, just six days after her 18th birthday.

This year, the team are raising funds for CLIC Sargent and Tanyel’s Smile, a charity helping young cancer patients in Northern Cyprus, set up in Tanyel’s memory by her parents.

Ceyhun said: “It felt amazing to finish and to set the world record last year as this has generated so much exposure and raised so many donations for young children and that’s why we’ve decided to do it all over again and to raise more awareness and donations. Watching their faces smile means the world to us”

This year’s London Marathon marks Ceyhun’s fourth for CLIC Sargent having raised over £30,000 thousand pounds for the cancer charity.

“Tanyel was our only child she was full of life so kind hearted and an amazing daughter we had for 20 years we love and miss her so much she will always be remembered and treasured in our hearts.

“I feel CLIC Sargent have helped us through our dark days taking off so much pressure and weight over our shoulders their amazing support and effort kept us going.”

Ceyhun will be running with Holly Bishop, from Shropshire, running in memory of her brother Guy, Holly’s boyfriend, Frederick Holland, also from Shropshire, Meg Walker, from Surrey, running in memory of her friend Rob, Andy Sharpe from West Yorkshire and Richard  Scantlebury from London.

Meg Walker, said: “Between the Ghostbusters team, we have completed skydives, triathlons, 10 Marathons in 10 weeks, the UK Marathon Challenge, 8 Marathons in a year, 1000 miles in 7 months and a 36 hour radio DJ-a-thon. As a team for the London Marathon 2018, we aim to raise over £15,000, which would bring the overall lifetime total raised between us for CLIC Sargent to a staggering £125,00!

“The Ghostbusters were all about ‘saving the world from ghosts’ and we want to help save the world from cancer and hopefully put smiles on plenty of faces too!”

Laura Mayes, Sports and Challenge Events Manager at CLIC Sargent, said: “When cancer strikes young lives we fight tirelessly to limit the damage it causes beyond their health by offering practical, emotional and financial support.

“We rely entirely on donations to fund our work so we can’t thank our brilliant record breaking team enough for their fantastic efforts. We’re so impressed that they have gone above and beyond yet again to raise vital funds and awareness to make sure that families get the support they need.”

To sponsor the ‘Ecto-6’ team for their London Marathon effort, go to: https://www.justgiving.com/companyteams/ecto6. To donate to Tanyel’s Smile go to: tanyelssmile.org.uk

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