Mum sets 50km pram-pushing world record to inspire son

Chloe McNiven set the world record for the fastest female to run 50km while pushing a pram

A pram-pushing mum who has just had her Guinness world record confirmed says she hopes it will inspire her baby when he grows up.

Chloe McNiven pushed her 10-month-old son Lake around a circuit for four hours 50 minutes to complete 50km (31 miles), becoming the fastest woman to achieve the feat.

The 35-year-old mother-of-two told the BBC she was motivated by the thought of baby Lake being able to one day say "I set a world record".

She says she is excited to see "what it will instil" in her child in the future.

Chloe, who was a victim of childhood abuse and left school at 15, says she is also trying to make a conscious effort to "rewrite" her own future into something more positive.

She says she has done a lot of work to understand how her childhood affected her adulthood.

She grew up in a council house in the Govan area of Glasgow and later moved to London where she worked at three jobs to put herself through dance school.

During her time as a dancer, she performed with stars such as Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Little Mix, Zara Larsson & Nicki Minaj.

Chloe said running with her children was a powerful tool to fight her postpartum depression

She started running after her first pregnancy with her daughter Soul, who is now five.

After a traumatic birth, Chloe found that running became a powerful tool to fight her postpartum depression and really bond with her baby.

"You don't have your phone," she says.

"You're not cleaning, cooking, emailing. It's just you and your baby. You're outside in nature. There's something about the pace that brings peace."

However it took a little while for Chloe to get comfortable with running with a pram.

"I was actually really intimidated," she says.

"It's so vulnerable. I was quite put off, but as soon as I started, I fell in love with it".

Running also allowed Chloe to challenge the fears and assumptions that come with becoming a mother.

She says: "You think you lose yourself after you have a baby, nothing will ever be the same, your life won't look the same. What if it could look better?

"I feel like I'm proving that it could look better.

"I'm just a random mum, 10 months postpartum, and I just set a world record.

"That's kind of cool."

'My baby was absolutely brilliant'

Chloe says that during the record run at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in Sussex, baby Lake was "absolutely brilliant".

It had been a rainy day and Chloe was drenched, so she was worried that Lake wouldn't be happy wrapped up under his rain cover.

But she says Lake cheerily "googoo gaga'd" for the first hour and half, then had his bottle and went for a nap.

He woke up for the final hour before the duo finished their record race.

"It was all based on him," she says

"This was never about ego, he dictated it."

She says her protocol for running with babies is that you should be "led by your child".

"If your child is upset, or needs you, or wants to stop, then they're the leader," she says.

She says there was aid every four and a half kilometres along the loop track and she could have stopped at any time.

Chloe said other women have been reaching out to say they have started running with their child

Chloe raised money for charities Mind and Impact London Collective during her run.

They support women affected by trauma.

Chloe says one of the best things about sharing her journey to completing the record has been how other woman have reached out to her.

"I'm getting messages from women saying, 'I bought a pram and did my first run'," she says.

"They understood how it's about the relationship with your child, that's what this is about. That's powerful."

'That's powerful'

Other title holders for pram-pushing records include Canadian man Calum Neff, who ran with his four-year-old Alessandra in the 2016 Toronto marathon.

Italy's Lorenzo Lotti also completed a 100km in a 2024 run with his seven-month-old son Rodolfo, who reportedly slept for seven hours during the eight-hour run.

Alyssa Puttkammer, a woman from the USA, holds the title for fastest female marathon pushing a stroller but this about 8km short of Chloe's distance.

As a newly-single mother to her baby Blair, Alyssa trained with her daughter to stay active and wanted to inspire other mums by showing what is possible even in challenging circumstances.

As for the future, Chloe hopes to also set a 100k run target with baby Lake, as well as complete a race called seven continents in seven days.

She says she will be able to run with the pram with a weighted doll, however she hopes Lake will be able to join her for the last leg in Miami.

"Having a goal changes everything," she says.

"It's not just about keeping fit or looking good. You show up differently. It's not superficial. It's powerful."