Imperial's international students break world record during RAG Week

The world record breaking group hug.

Imperial's diverse and international student body came together last week to break a Guinness World Record as part of the annual RAG Week.

Students from 58 countries took part in the event, breaking the existing record of most nationalities in a group hug.

There were 126 participants in the hug, which saw the students from countries ranging from Bulgaria to Brazil and Mexico to Myanmar link arms in a big circle on the Queen’s Lawn.

The record attempt was overseen by a number of staff volunteers who collected student names and nationalities to verify the attempt with Guinness for official confirmation.

GLOBAL IMPERIAL

Imperial is home to students from 138 different nations from all corners of the globe, and was recently rated the UK’s most international university for the second year in a row by Times Higher Education.

RAG Chair, Cyn Nancarrow-Lei (Department of Chemistry), said: “The event was a great success. Imperial is such a diverse student community so it seemed only right we bring everyone together to break this record.

“We’ve had so much support throughout the week across our events. We’ve raised lots of money so far and there’s more still to count as it comes in.”

RASING AND GIVING

The event also saw a number of other world record attempts as students tried to beat existing titles for fastest blindfolded orange peel, and fastest Smarties sort using chopsticks.

Sorting Smarties

The stunts were part of Imperial’s RAG Week celebrations that saw staff and students raise over £3,000 for RAG’s nominated charities across the week.

This year’s charities are; Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice, Cancer Research UK, The British Heart Foundation and Action Aid. The takings/proceeds from RAG Week add to the money already raised since the beginning of term through events such as the Jail Break, which saw students travel as far as Iceland, Indonesia and Bali for free, raising money along the way.

Main Image: Thomas Angus