Farthest distance pulling a vehicle in 24 hours
Who
James Baker, John Darwen
What
51.499 kilometre(s)
Where
United Kingdom (Elvington, York)
When
Age Restriction: Applications for this record title will only be accepted if the applicant is 16 years of age or over.

The farthest distance pulling a vehicle in 24 hours is 51.499 km (32 mi), and was achieved by James Baker (UK) in Elvington, UK, on 25-26 August 2022. This was equalled by John Darwen (UK) in Elvington, UK, on 25-26 August 2022.


James and John are both brothers-in-law and have known and supported one another since John was diagnosed with Leukaemia 14 years ago. Neither have a background in sports or athletics, but they both have a determined spirit and a grit to succeed. Both are inspired by each other and have formed a strong bond with one another over the years.

Each year James and John raise money for charity by completing half-marathons and marathons, and wanted to do something completely different for a change; something that involved both strength and endurance.

James and John originally decided on the idea together of attempting this record back in 2019 when the record currently only stood at 2.1 miles. When the record had been broken and updated to 21.1 miles, they decided to knuckle down and plan out their training in more detail.

James and John both individually broke this record on 23rd October 2021 by going one extra mile to the previous record making the new title stand at 22.1 miles. They both stopped at exactly the same distance to jointly claim the title together.

10 months later, James and John attempted the record again and managed to set a brand new record of 32 miles exactly, and both stopping at the exact same distance again. This took their previous record a further 9.9 miles making this a mammoth achievement indeed.

During the attempt they were also joined by their friend, Daniel Callaghan who was also attempting for the record himself. Daniel achieved 14 miles on the day and had to concede due to a pulled ligament in his left ankle.

James, John and Daniel wanted to attempt this record to help raise awareness and funds to support two charities that have made a big impact in their lives, ’Redeeming Our Communities’ and ‘Cancer Research UK’. The trio raised in excess of £2,500 which will be divided between both charities.

In preparation for the attempt they invited a personal trainer to support them and provide professional insights to aid their training. Their training involved 3 main stages including strength development, hypertrophy, and endurance. Within their programme they practiced pulling 1.5 tonne vehicles around fairly flat, and quiet industrial estates. Their final practice session saw them pull for 9.5 hours and achieved a total of 15 miles. Throughout their practices, they had gained lots of volunteer support and a fantastic team to help on the day of the attempt. They felt confident that they could take on this challenge and their training had paid off.

Both James and John wanted to show a sign of solidarity and brotherhood, and planned to not only break the world record independently of each other, but also to finish at exactly the same distance to jointly hold the record together as well. On the day James broke his previous record in only 12 hours followed shortly less than an hour later by John. James remained ahead but during break times they both passed each other. At the 30th mile John’s feet were severely blistered during the attempt and both his big toe nails had been badly bruised. This made the final few miles much harder. James could have kept the lead and take the title for himself, but instead he pulled his van alongside with John and they went the final two miles together. John was ready for giving up at the end of mile 31, but persevered to make it 32. James finished ahead of John, but put his harness down and walked with John (and joined by Daniel and many other supporters) to cross the final lap line together.

This was more than a record attempt, but show of love, brotherhood and solidarity right to the finish. The pair are keen to attempt more records in the future and may attempt this record again if it is broken in the near future.