A Polish man has completed the world’s longest barefoot journey by walking and running 3,409.75 km (2,118.72 mi) around the Iberian Peninsula without any footwear.
Paweł Durakiewicz, 45, began his journey in the south of France near the border with Spain.
He travelled along the border before following the peninsula’s coastline in an anticlockwise direction, eventually finishing in San José in the south of Spain.
Part of the route led along the popular Camino de Santiago pilgrim trail.
Covering 20-50 km (12-31 mi) each day, Paweł completed the entire journey in just under six months.
He beat the previous record – set in 2021 by Dutchman Antonius Nootenboom – by 390 km (242.3 mi).
Paweł lives in the Sicilian countryside, where he says he’s walked “mostly barefoot” for the past six years.
He trained for the record attempt by walking and running 10 km every day for five months.
Besides a few burns and cuts, he says his feet suffered “no serious injuries” during his record-breaking trek.
He burned his feet on the road’s hot asphalt during the first month of the trip while walking in temperatures nearing 40°C (104°F). After treating his feet with gel squeezed from an Aloe vera plant, he began running to reduce the amount of contact he made with the road’s surface.
Paweł says the hardest aspect of the journey was finding the motivation to continue after surpassing the previous record.
He also encountered unexpected difficulties such as being stopped “many times” by the police, as well as having to navigate busy roads with no pedestrian path.
At night, he slept in a camper van driven by a friend who followed along behind, and he mostly ate fresh fruits and vegetables which he cooked in the van.
Paweł undertook this challenge to raise money for the Diamond Soul Foundation, a charity he co-founded which supports people in their recovery from addiction. They also organize free one-week camps in Sicily for underprivileged children.
Paweł also did it “to show that ordinary people are capable of doing extraordinary things if they put in enough effort, self-discipline, and self-determination”.
After successfully achieving the world record, he said: “It feels great, and I made my childhood dream come true.
“Also, because of the addiction I almost destroyed myself and was at the very bottom, and now I have the record and I am helping others.
“We are a miracle to be discovered and not a problem to be fixed. I am very grateful that I could experience this trip.”
If you love watching records being broken you should check out our Records Weekly series on YouTube...
Want more? Follow us on Google News and across our social media channels to stay up-to-date with all things Guinness World Records! You can find us on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Snapchat Discover.
Don't forget to check out our videos on YouTube and become part of our group chat by following the Guinness World Records WhatsApp channel.
Still not had enough? Click here to buy our latest book, filled to the brim with stories about our amazing record breakers.
Related Articles
