60 hours, 36 players and 1 world record bid to beat breast cancer

Press Release For immediate release: 4 October 2010 Press contact: Louise Garrahan, Media Relations Officer, Breast Cancer Campaign, DD 0207 749 3724, Email: lgarrahan@breastcancercampaign.org 60 hours, 36 players and 1 world record bid to beat breast cancer Local footballer Ricardo Braganza and 35 fellow players will lace up their boots this month to attempt a new Guinness World Record for the world’s longest football match. The squad from Loughborough University are determined to play for a whopping 60 hours on campus from 9am on Friday 22 October to 9pm on Sunday 24 – the equivalent of a full premier league season being played in one go! The current official record, set by the Challengers and the Crunchers in Qatar from 28 to 30 May 2010, is 42 hours, five minutes and one second. Maths student Ricardo has organised the football-athon to raise sponsorship for his London Marathon place on Breast Cancer Campaign’s running team next year after his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. So far the budding footballer has raised a staggering £15,000 to help fund world-class breast cancer research through several bucket collections. He said: “I’ve been planning this match for a while and, with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I thought this would be the perfect time to hold the game to show my mum how much I support her during her treatment. I’m thrilled with the response from my fellow players who are all very excited about taking part. It’s going to be tough but I know we can beat the current record and we’re geared up to be world record breakers.” Players will play for two hours at a time with one hour breaks in between, but are not allowed to leave the pitch at any point during the attempt. An official adjudicator from Guinness World Records will be on hand to make sure there is no foul play. Although the two teams have not been selected yet, Ricardo’s fellow players are Tom Burgess, Josh Baxter, Stefano Mini, Matt Whitehead, Mark Glattback, Tyrone White, Alexei Christofi, Mark Langford, Raji Guna, Jey Shanth, Sam Whelan, Sam Graham, Jon Claxton, Adam Moore, Eliot Tang, Michael Thomas, Mark Williams, Larry Adeyemi, Andrew Wishart, Sam Douglas, Jon Pople, Oliver Green, James Foley, Alex Corck-Adelman, Jon Mackie, Hector Johnston, Lewis Johnson, Sam Le Pard, Conall McAteer, Joe Spraggins, Luke Wormall, Phil Wormall, Matt Martindale, Tom Walker and Joel Barlow. Ricardo, from Ilford, Essex, added: “We’ve all been training hard for this with plenty of hours spent on the footy pitch and we’d love people to come down and watch our attempt. My aim is to raise £18,000 for Breast Cancer Campaign so I hope lots of people will sponsor me and help me reach my target for this worthwhile cause. The players will all do their best – even if it means having to give up their nice warm beds for not-so luxurious pitch-side accommodation in two man tents!” To sponsor the team, please visit www.virginmoneygiving.com/ricardobraganza and donate what you can. For more information about the match, which has kindly been sponsored by Blacks, log on to www.longestfootballmatch.com and also on Facebook at ‘World’s Longest Charity Football Match’. Ends Picture caption: Ricardo Braganza and his team mates Notes to editors • Breast Cancer Campaign aims to beat breast cancer by funding innovative world-class research to understand how breast cancer develops, leading to improved diagnosis, treatment, prevention and cure • Currently it supports 104 research projects, worth over £16.1 million, in 38 centres of excellence across the UK and Ireland • Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and accounts for nearly one in three of all cancers in women • In the UK, nearly 46,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year - that’s 125 a day • Visit www.breastcancercampaign.org • Read Chief Executive Pamela Goldberg’s blog http://pamelagoldbergblog.blogspot.com/