WHILE most of us were relaxing over the Bank Holiday weekend, Matthew Davenport has been breaking a world record.

Matthew aimed to break the record for the longest distance travelled on a swimming pool slide and completed his 24-hour marathon slide at Moss Farm pool on Saturday - beating his own target by more than 80,000ft.

Matthew, 24, estimated that he would travel about 50,000ft but on the day, from 2pm on Saturday to 2pm on Sunday, he managed to travel an astonishing 13,515ft.

Matthew, who now lives in Birmingham but who lived in Davenham for more than 18 years before going to university, said: "I wanted to get a world record. It went very well, I was pretty determined to do it.

"I surprised myself about the actual distance I covered."

He added: "It is the equivalent of climbing to the top of Snowdon seven times."

Matthew's mum, Susan Davenport, and his girlfriend, Claire Mort, along with other members of his family and friends were at the poolside cheering him on.

The event was also to raise money for MENCAP, which will be collected over the next few weeks. Matthew hopes to raise more than £1000.

He came up with the idea while on holiday with Claire in Sun City, South Africa.

In preparation for this unusual challenge, Matthew completed four months of hard training mostly of leg weights, using running machines and treadmills.

Now he has to send his portfolio of evidence of his triumph to Guinness Book of World Records who will validate the attempt and decide whether it will go into the famous book.

Having completed this challenge, Matthew said that he would like to attempt the four-hour marathon which currently stands at about 36,000ft.

Matthew said he would like to thank everyone for their support and sponsorship, with a special thanks going to his Mum, Sue, Rachael Hornby and Nick Williamson who stayed at the pool for the full 24 hours.

jreiscoll@guardiangrp.co.uk