Hartlepool ultra adventurer Paul Suggitt reveals his next and biggest ever challenge - to walk length of Australia

Now ‘ultra adventurer’ Paul Suggitt from Hartlepool has announced his most ambitious challenge yet.

In spring 2021, he will attempt the journey from north to south coast of Australia – some 1,900 miles – in just three weeks by bike and on foot, once again barefoot.

Paul, 51, has raised tens of thousands of pounds for charity from a number of extreme events that have pushed him to the limit both physically and mentally.

His Australia challenge is a combination of previous feats including covering 10,000 miles across the country in 2017 by bike, running and walking.

And in June he walked almost 200 miles coast to coast in England completely barefoot.

Paul, of Deer Park, said: “It’s got to be brutal to test me beyond the limits.

“I’m not an athlete, I’m just your average guy on the street who thinks beyond what most people think.”

In Australia, he will try to cross the country from Darwin in the north and right through the outback to Adelaide in the south.

Paul, a website and app designer, and dad to two children, added: “I have been building an Australia support team. My feet are still on the mend from my barefoot walk in June.

“Hopefully, they will be fully repaired by then. I’m hoping top do it in 21 days.

“It will be their autumn but there’s almost no seasons in the outback.

“I’ve got a meeting next week with a snake and spider expert so I know what can kill me.”

Paul has already started planning each day and hopes to ride around 100 miles a day by bike and follow it with a run and walk as the temperature dies down.

He will be supported by a small team of people including a medic, a native Australian and Paul’s film crew who document his achievements.

Once again, he will be raising money for The Chris Lucas Trust, a North East based teenage cancer charity, and Hartlepool Ambulance Charity.

Paul is an ambassador for the ambulance charity which provides first aid training to the public and is training up a team of first responders to support the North East Ambulance Service.

He added: “Doing things like this gets a lot of people interested which draws attention to the charities.”

This week, Paul was presented with a trophy in recognition of his fundraising and June’s barefoot walk by the Ceremonial Mayor of Hartlepool Councillor Brenda Loynes.

Coun Loynes said: “I don’t know anybody else who would do 192 miles barefoot. I think you have done an amazing job.

“I hope you keep on doing what you are. I really do admire you.”

Between now and Australia, Paul plans to do a number of interim training challenges.

A book about his barefoot coast to coast walk, called To Hell and Back, is out next month.