Jessica Anderson had one big goal in mind when she signed up to run in the 2019 London Marathon – beat the Guinness World Record for the fastest woman to run the race in a nurse’s uniform.
According to The New York Times , she had to beat the time of 3 hours 8 minutes and 54 seconds, set by Sarah Dudgeon in 2015.
But Jessica had no idea it wouldn’t be the actual running part that would stand in her way of earning the title.
Jessica is a nurse at the Royal London Hospital who frequently enjoys competing in races.
Her Instagram features several photos of her either after finishing a race or just in the middle of running one.
Clearly, this women loves to run, and she’s a nurse — so, going for the “fastest in a nurse’s uniform” distinction seems like it was only a matter of time.
On March 27, she announced via Instagram that she would be racing in the London Marathon
But there was a catch in her plan to earn the record.
Upon applying to compete for the distinction, Guinness told her that her blue scrubs, which she routinely wears to work, wouldn’t meet their criteria for a nurse’s uniform and therefor wouldn’t earn her the title, should she beat the record.
Although she wouldn’t be able to officially compete for the record, Jessica still ran the race — and beat the record by 22 seconds.
In an Instagram post, Jessica shared a photo of herself crossing the finish line and explained her excitement at her achievement.
She also tagged the official Guinness World Record Instagram for a cheeky final thought.
“This is what the fastest female marathon runner in a nurse’s uniform ACTUALLY looks like,” she wrote and shared her final time, proving she had in fact beaten the previous record.
People aren’t happy with Guinness’ technicality and its dated view on nurses and their unforms.
“Nursing is about the care we deliver, not the uniform we wear,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another user who works as a male nurse asked Guinness if they would have expected a male nurse to wear a dress to be considered viable for the record.
After all the backlash, Guinness has announced the criteria for the record will be reevaluated.
“It is quite clear that this record title and associated guidelines is long overdue a review, which we will conduct as a priority in the coming days,” they said in a statement .
Although Jessica didn’t technically beat the record in the eyes of Guinness World Records, she can rest happy knowing she has the internet’s support and that she has done something incredible by beating the time anyway.
(And she raised about $3,950 for Barts Charity, so lots of good has come from her decision to run despite Guinness’ outdated rules.)
