4 Lancashire friends are undertaking a crazy world record attempt tomorrow for an important cause

What’s it all about?

Between Friday, November 21 and Saturday, November 22, friends Nathan Young, Benny Evinson, Marcus Mollinga and David Davies will be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the longest ever Padel match to raise funds for the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT).

They are aiming to play for 40 hours, beating the current record of 31 hours 38 minutes 50 seconds.

The rules require continuous play with only 5-minute breaks allowed for each hour of play completed.

They will be starting at roughly 02:00 AM on Friday, November 21 aiming to finish at roughly 18:00 on Saturday, November 22.

The end of the challenge will be overseen by an official Guinness World Records adjudicator who will then award the men their title there and then.

Where is the challenge happening?

The event will take place at: Zooki, Unit 8, Whitehills Business Park, Blackpool FY4 5RU.

The facility will be open for the duration of the event and anybody is welcome to come and support us at any time!

Who is taking part?

This will be completed by a group of 4 friends:

Nathan Young- The brains behind the idea. Nathan, from Lytham St Annes, is blind in one eye and severely partially sighted in the other, and his aim for this year was to put on an event to raise funds for CHECT who have supported him throughout my life.

Benny Evinson- A Chartered Financial Planner at Becketts Financial Services, Benny is a lifelong best friend, best man and ‘Uncle’ to Nathan’s children. Having grown up together they’ve seen each other’s highs, lows, and just about everything in between. Benny played a huge part in keeping Nathan up when Izzy was going through her treatment.

Marcus Mollinga- Co-founder of Zooki which has been growing rapidly and boast an Instagram following of over 50,000 people. Preston born Marcus is a good friend of Nathan, having met through Padel. When Nathan originally asked Marcus if they could use the court at Zooki’s Blackpool premises, his one condition was he was doing it with them!

David Davies (DD)- Founder of Sovereign Beverage Company, the UK’s leading exporter of premium beverages. DD has known Nathan’s family for years- like many on the Fylde Coast, he was taught to swim by Ntahn’s mum. Like the other three firends, DD is Padel crackers and can always be counted on to get a game going!

So why are they doing this?

Nay said: “This is a personal one for me, and my story goes back to my childhood. When looking at some family photos, a member of family noticed a glow in one of my eyes. It wasn't known at the time, but this is a common sign of Retinoblastoma.

“Retinoblastoma (Rb) is a type of eye cancer that affects young children, mainly under the age of six. It develops in the cells of the retina, the light sensitive lining of the eye. Around 40-50 cases are diagnosed in the UK every year – approximately one child a week. Retinoblastoma can affect either one or both eyes.

“Over many months I was continually referred to specialists and eventually fell under the care of the late Consultant Ophthalmologist John Hungerford- the person who ultimately saved my life. I was diagnosed with bilateral RB, meaning both eyes would be affected.

“For a period of time myself and my mum were moved to live in and around St Barts hospital in London where I would receive my various treatments (Cryotherapy and Radiotherapy to name a few). And after some time, I was finally able to return home to Lytham St Annes.

“For me, the cancer was persistent in both eyes, and to preserve some vision in my right eye it was deemed necessary to remove my left eye entirely which was replaced with a prosthetic eye (often called a 'glass eye'), every now and then I get a shiny new one!

“To press, I am totally blind in my left eye and am visually impaired in my right eye- so the TLDR is, my vision isn't very good! I do however, consider myself lucky, and try to always think it could have been much worse and it wouldn't have been out of the question that Ilost all vision in my right eye also!

“Of course, as I've grown up the nature of my sight does present me with challenges and obstacles. Though I never quite made it as a professional footballer or a top 10 Padel player, I like to think I'm a good example of somebody that will get stuck in and have a go at everything without worrying too much about how it'll pan out! I owe that very much to my mum and dad who have forever encouraged me to have a go at things as well as my hugely supportive family and friends.

“Fast forward many years, In December 2019 we were lucky enough to welcome our eldest daughter Izzy into the world. Because of the nature of my condition, with the help of CHECT we were very strongly encouraged to have Izzy checked out as soon as possible and we were informed that there would be a 50/50 chance that she could be born with Rb too.

“In January 2020 we learnt that Izzy too had Rb and would need to undergo various cycles of Chemotherapy to kill the cancer and present the further spread. Little did we know at the time we were hurtling into a global pandemic, which meant during Izzy's various treatments we had to completely isolate ourselves away from the world whilst we'd travel back and forth to London so Izzy could receive her treatments at Royal London & Great Ormond St hospitals.

“At this particular time the world was well, complicated. And the support we received as a family from CHECT was absolutely immense. They coordinated our appointments, travel, ensured we had places to stay overnight as well as providing huge amounts of help and support to myself, my wife and Izzy.

“Izzy's outlook is a little more favorable than my own, and with a fair wind the hope is she will retain healthy vision in one eye due to the proactive diagnosis and swift treatment. It is thought she will lose most (if not all) vision in the other eye. It's safe to say, this really doesn't stop her, and despite a challenging start to life it's been unbelievably fulfilling to watch her take life in her stride and just go for it, she's a tough kid!

“In August 2023 came our youngest daughter, Sophie. Due to advances in research, via blood samples we were able to have Sophie's outlook confirmed before she came into the world. In the same way I'll never forget the feeling of learning of Izzy's diagnosis, I'll never forget the relief finding out that Sophie did not have Rb.

“As I write, it's really difficult to explain just how valuable the support from CHECT has been, and how different the whole experience could have been without it. Whilst it is difficult to qualify just how grateful I am, what I do know is it is my time to give back and ensure that families who have their RB journeys to come are able to receive the same support that we were fortunate enough to have had, as well as help advance research and development around diagnosis and treatments.

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Can I still help?

The friends are still looking for support in the form of sponsorship, donations, corporate partnerships, donations of raffle prizes or just about anything you think you might be able to help with!

If you can, please get in touch by emailing [email protected], phoning 07545809817, checking out their Gofundme at https://www.gofundme.com/f/theworldslongestpadelmatch or their Instagram at @worldslongestpadelmatch

There will also be a fundraising evening from 16:00 on Saturday, November 22. You can expect:

- A live band (Jam Merchants)

- A DJ

- A bar

- A virtual horse racing evening

- The awarding of a Guinness World Record

- A Raffle (with loads of prizes!)