How breaking records together has made couple Sue and Sam stronger than ever
Couple Sam Taylor and Sue Taylor-Franklin say their lives changed forever after they started breaking records together.
The married couple, from Wales, get recognized everywhere they go after taking on a string of epic Guinness World Records challenges.
After bonding over a love for fitness, the pair have pulled planes, trains and automobiles to secure their place in history, side-by-side forever.
"I think our favourite thing about each other is our determination to succeed in whatever we do as well as our shared values," Sam told us.
The UK couple first entered the record books together in February 2021.
Combining their incredible strength, they claimed the record for fastest 20 m A320 aircraft pull by a team of two (female) in a time of 37.53 seconds.
Their effort was part of GWR Cymru, a special St David’s Day broadcast celebrating the Welsh language.
The next challenge they planned to take on together was the heaviest deadlift by a team of two (female) at the UK’s Strongest Man event in May 2023.
But when Sue, 58, was injured, she stepped aside to cheer her wife on as their friend Izzy Tait (also UK) took her place.
Sam, 48, and Izzy claimed the record by lifting 452.5 kg (997.59 lb) together as proud Sue watched from the sidelines.
Sue cheers Sam and Izzy on from the sidelines
Sam and Sue, who share 15-year-old son Ollie and both work in the homelessness field, teamed up once again in February 2025 to break the record for fastest time to pull a narrow-gauge steam train 20 m by a team of two (female).
Again performing the stunt as part of the GWR Cymru celebrations, they claimed the record at Llanberis Lake Railway in Wales with a time of 40.53 seconds.
On a side note, Sam also broke the record for fastest time to pull a lorry/truck 20 m by a team (female) with Beth Grice, Lisa Marie Hassall and Nicola Walters (all UK) with a time of 20 sec in 2023.
Read about more records like this in our dedicated Sports and Fitness section.
Sam and Sue, who tied the knot in Cardiff in 2019, don’t keep their passion for record breaking to themselves. They also jointly own Peak Strength gym in Aberdare, Wales, where they help other strength athletes achieve great things.
When asked what first gave them the motivation to break records together, Sue said: “We were in Dubai, and Sam said she wanted to pull an aeroplane after seeing both Norway's strongest woman and South Africa's strongest woman do the feat - Sam wanted to be the first Welsh woman to pull a plane.”
Working together, they made that dream a reality.
Ever since pulling that plane, the couple say their lives have been different.
“Our lives changed beyond belief,” they said, “we were in all the national papers, we have been asked to do talks in schools, with the WI, we get recognized everywhere we go, even in Lithuania.”
They’re still incredibly proud of what they’ve achieved, and rightly so. While they have no immediate plans to break other records, we hope to see them back in action soon.
Couples who break records together, stay together!