Austin Beasty’s mammoth effort has seen him raise more than £4,000 in memory of his late brother
An 18-year-old fundraiser from Market Weighton is laying claim to a Guinness World Record for the number of backflips performed in a 24-hour period. Austin Beasty, an engineering apprentice, launched his bid at 6am on Saturday morning at the Wolds Gymnastics Club in Driffield.
By 2pm that day he had already smashed the dizzying enough record of 1,234 and went on to nearly double that amount. Having performed a staggering 2,470 backflips he stopped at 2am on Sunday morning.
“I was always pretty confident of beating the existing record but it was a bit of an unknown as to how far I could go after that,” said Austin, who was recuperating from the feat on Sunday. “Today especially, I’m really feeling it. But I just went until I physically couldn’t do it anymore and my muscles basically just shut down. I gave it my everything.”
Through the 20-hour effort, Austin was cheered on my parents Dominic and Tracey, and coach Harry Sheader who helped Austin train for the mammoth exercise. Independent volunteers were also present to witness and verify the number of backflips performed.
The effort was made all the more special as Austin raised money for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, in memory of his brother, Jaygo, who sadly died in a road accident near Middleton-on-the-Wolds four years ago, when he was just 17. Cakes, teas and coffees on sale throughout the event for spectators also helped to generate vital funds, alongside donations.
Austin added: “I’m really pleased with myself, and also about how much we’ve raised for charity. We’ve raised more than £4,000 so far. It’s been really rewarding.”
Having captured video, photography and witness testimony, the evidence of Austin’s achievement will now be submitted to Guinness officials with hopes the record can be confirmed in the coming weeks. Austin has indicated he’s “up for another” challenge, but only once he is rested.
He explained: “Eating was probably the most difficult part of the challenge. Although I had breaks, they weren’t long, so I was basically eating and drinking whilst doing the backflips.
“And if you eat too much, you’re going to sick it back up. If you don’t eat enough, you get really tired. It’s finding the happy medium but I did quite well and it kept me going.”
In a post announcing Austin’s feat, Wolds Gymnastics Club wrote: “What a thing to witness! Hopefully this amazing guy has inspired some of you today.
“We’ll now wait for the official confirmation but as we know it he has completed double (+2) of the world record! Unreal business Austin.”
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