Paddy Doyle took his extraordinary career on to the next level as he set his 200th career strength, fitness and endurance record on Valentine’s Day, having set out on his way with his first record back in May 1987. This time it was a gruelling 26 mile backpack walk across the Warwickshire countryside and along the Grand Union Canal – all laden down with 60 lbs of weights – with a rousing ‘stop-the-traffic’ conclusion coming after 7 hours 51 minutes at the offices of the Leamington Courier in Royal Leamington Spa’s town centre.
As always Paddy’s challenge was not without difficulties – heavy rain the previous day made for boggy, treacherous and energy sapping conditions on the early sections of the course – with Paddy going over on his ankle on a difficult slope and injuring his knee in the process. The mental and physical drain on Paddy, exacerbated by injury, slowed him to a crawl at the final checkpoint at Hatton Locks by the Waterman Arms. At this stage Paddy was taking regualr stops and relying heavily on his support team, whilst they dragged him back from exhaustion with a constant stream of energy bars, liquids and those all important words of encouragement to keep going.
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