THEY have marched – and played – their way into the record books.

Huddersfield University’s Marching Band has got into the Guinness Book Of Records as the fastest band to complete a marathon.

They completed the London Marathon in seven hours and 58 minutes to raise around £40,000 for the charity Sense, which works with deaf and blind people.

And they were such a hit with the organisers they have been invited back next year as the marathon’s official marching band.

The musicians all play in the university’s brass band or wind band and wowed the London crowds with classics such as It’s a Long Way to Tipperary and The Great Escape.

They received their official Guinness certificate of authenticity from Huddersfield University Vice Chancellor Prof Bob Cryan.

“The band kept up a steady pace of 118 beats a minute playing all the way with only 30 second breaks between pieces,’’ he said. “The only statistic I haven’t got was the number of notes they played.

“We would probably need our high performance computing facilities to work that one out.

“The marching band has made a lot of friends and won a lot of hearts and minds.

“This began during the London Marathon itself when a lot of entrants who were on the verge of dropping out decided to follow the band all the way to the finish line.

“It’s been a crazy, inspirational and heart-warming project.’’