Newcastle tyre-flipping world records attempted

Users of a gym in Gateshead have been practising for the attempts

Attempts at breaking and setting nine world tyre-flipping records are being made in Newcastle.

Phil Pugh and Paul Hopkins, from North Tyneside, have organised a one-hour continuous flip, a number of women's and men's sprints and a relay.

Mr Hopkins, a retired firefighter, will also be part of a team flipping a 100kg tyre for 12 hours to raise funds for two children's charities.

The 57-year-old said it was about "putting something back".

"It's no good sitting back and waiting for other people to do things otherwise things don't get done," he said.

Retired firefighter Paul Hopkins said an averagely fit person could tyre flip

Women will use a 70kg tyre, about the size of a large car tyre, and men will flip tractor tyres weighing 100kg up and down a 50m course on Blackett Street.

"This is the type of thing your average, fit person could have a go at and that's what were hoping will happen over the weekend," Mr Hopkins said.

There are no current records for the 50m and 100m attempts with 70kg and 100kg tyres so they were "more or less guaranteed to set four Guinness world records", he said.

There are individual and group attempts

The organisation's rules require a quantity surveyor to measure the course and test the gradient, two independent witnesses, a log of the number of flips and distance travelled and for the whole 12-hour attempt to be recorded.

Mr Hopkins and Mr Pugh completed a 3,000-mile ocean Atlantic crossing in a wooden boat in 2019 and Mr Hopkins said record attempts were "like the rowing".

"Flipping tyres is the easy bit, it's getting everything together to get the event to go which seems to be the most difficult," he said.

Women will flip large car tyres weighing 70kg

Entrants pay £10 to make an attempt over the weekend and, at 17:00 BST on Sunday, the three fastest will race each other and the winner will be put forward for the record.

Director of operations at business improvement company NE1, Tariq Albassam, said it was "keen to bring different activities" back into the city and that "world record breaking tyre-flipping attempts are certainly different".