Exeter Cathedral School Teacher Races to World Record

The Director of Sport at Exeter’s oldest school has run himself into the record books at the London Marathon. Just 6 days after completing the Boston Marathon, USA.

The Director of Sport at Exeter’s oldest school has run himself into the record books.

James Kelly, a Year 3 class teacher and whole-school Director of Sport and PE at the city-centre Cathedral School, ran the 45th London Marathon on Sunday. At the finish line, he and his brother and sister were presented with an official Guinness World Record certificate for Fastest Marathon By Three Siblings (Mixed).

James, who less than 6 days previously also ran the Boston Marathon in a time of 2 hours 46, said “Running the London Marathon just six days after completing Boston was incredibly tough. My legs were sore and heavy, and the final five miles turned into a true mental battle. But I kept going. What carried me through were the amazing cheers from my family and friends along the route, the knowledge that people in the school community were tracking my progress, and the motivation of working toward a potential world record with my siblings. All of it reminded me why I was doing this. In those hardest moments, I leaned on the ECS habits—especially hard work and keeping going.”

Head of Exeter Cathedral School James Featherstone congratulated his colleague: “The whole ECS community was cheering James on – and we are delighted for him that he has casually notched up an official world record. James is the ideal person to head-up our terrific sports programme at the School, and we are all really proud of him. It only goes to show that those who can – teach!”

Exeter Cathedral School offers sports scholarships and has recently launched the ECS High Performance Sports Programme in collaboration with Blundell’s School.