A man is set to climb Mount Snowdon in flippers later this year, after completing the world’s longest walk in aquatic footwear back in 2017.
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Craig Keatley on the Victoria Warehouse billboard representing The Christie
Craig Keatley has already raised £11,500 for his chosen cause, The Christie Charity, but he is keen to rush to the next challenge.
The 51-year-old civil servant said: “I have decided that I’m going to flipper walk up Mount Snowdon later this year, which let’s just say, it’s going to be tricky. It is completely different to anything I have done before.
“I know a couple of people who have been through the doors of The Christie, so many people get cancer and we need to do more to help people survive it.”
Craig added: “My first ever event was the Salford 10km in 2017, I actually went around twice to do 20km.”
His other money-raising achievements include a 20-hour, 200-mile bike ride from Salford’s Coronation Street set, all the way to Eastenders set in London; as well as running in slippers from Liverpool to Manchester.
Craig finishing his 2018 flipper run at Heaton Park
He has also raised just under £2,500 for Forever Manchester, a charity that supports the Manchester community across multiple different sectors.
Back in 2017, Keatley became the world’s first extreme flipper walker, walking 31 miles in the unusual footwear.
He said: “There’s a reason why I am the only one that has flipper walked them sort of miles.
“After my first flipper walk, I had never been so ill in all my life. With five miles to go, I was physically sick, broken.”
He added: “It was a combination of mental strength and my mates pulling me through it, they got me through the dark times.”
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Craig doing his 31-mile flipper walk back in 2017.
Craig said he got the idea to walk in the scuba shoes from a memory of the early nineties.
He said: “I was clubbing in Urmston, at Yates Wine Lodge. It was a beach party-themed night, and guess what? I showed up in flippers – it was one of the greatest nights of my life.
“Fast forward to 2017, I was trying to find something quirky to do for Charity, and the flippers came back into my mind.”
When asked if he would try to beat his own thirty-one-mile record, he said “We’ll see how this Snowdon thing goes, there might be an idea of beating my own record.”
“It is all subject to medical things, but I think my record will be standing for a very long time anyway.”
To support Craig’s fundraising, click here.
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