Oxford professor’s world record marathon in academic dress

Alexander Betts, who completed the 26.2-mile race in full academic dress, has so far raised £3,458 for Helen & Douglas House.

To qualify for the record, he wore a mortarboard, gown, black trousers, bow tie, long-sleeve shirt, and socks. Fortunately, he was allowed to wear trainers.

He wanted to use his platform as a professor and as pro-vice chancellor at the university to “support an incredible charity and raise awareness of the work they do” and show Oxford professors “don’t have to take themselves seriously all of the time.”

Alexander Betts, University of Oxford professor and Pro-vice-Chancellor wore full academic drag when he beat the Guinness World Record at the London Marathon (Image: Alexander Betts)

Since crossing the line in two hours and 55 minutes last month (April), he has been stopped by people across Oxfordshire wanting to talk about the run — from school gates and Parkrun to his role at the university.

“The reaction has been so positive,” he said. “In Oxford, we’ve historically had the ‘town and gown’ divide and this is a way of showing that academics are engaged in the community.”

In order to juggle his work and family commitments, he would go running, with a mortarboard on, with a friend at around 6.15am on most mornings to make it back in-time for breakfast.

While running along river towpaths, he would overhear people mutter “why on earth is he wearing that?”

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The race itself was not without challenges, with warm conditions made tougher by the full academic outfit as beady-eyed adjudicators watched his every move around the course.

His adjudicators weren’t the only ones keeping an eye on him during the challenge. He said: “My students were quite amused and sent me clips they had taken during the marathon and that they had seen of me on social media.”

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Despite the conditions, he said he began to realise midway through the race that he was on track to beat the record, as long as his mortarboard stayed in place.

He said: “I was enjoying interacting with the crowd so I wasn’t really thinking about my time much for the first half of the race, but it was a relief to have done what I set out to do.”

He said Sir Roger Bannister’s “much more significant” four-minute mile world record “has always been a source of inspiration”.

Alexander Betts, University of Oxford professor and Pro-vice-Chancellor wore full academic drag when he beat the Guinness World Record at the London Marathon (Image: Alexander Betts)

He added: “The university organised Bannister Miles a week after my marathon, and it was especially touching to be congratulated on my own world record by members of the Bannister family.”

Beyond the record, he hopes the attention will continue to highlight the importance of hospice care.

“Hospices rely heavily on public support,” he said. “I hope this has helped raise awareness of the incredible work they do.”