Somerset Kayaker sets new record for round-Britain trip

A kayaker has set a new record for circumnavigating Britain, while also raising awareness of diabetes.

Beating the previous record by 27 days, Dougal Glaisher, 23, from Ilminster, Somerset, finished the 3,218km (2,000 mile) challenge in 40 days.

The record of 67 days was previously set by Joe Leach in 2012.

Mr Glaisher, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes aged 20, said he wanted to show others with the condition that "anything is possible".

Completing the challenge, he arrived in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, at 17:40 BST on Tuesday.

Fundraising for Action4Diabetes, a charity that supports disadvantaged children in South East Asia with type 1 diabetes, he said: "I'm really proud.

"The sheer distance of it. It'll take some time to process it.

"I'm a bit sad that it's come to an end but the most important thing for me is that I did it and my type 1 diabetes didn't stop me."

First coached by former Great Britain (GB) ocean racer Jim Taylor-Ross, Mr Glaisher said he first started kayaking at the age of 15.

Mr Taylor-Ross said: "Dougal was immediately a natural in the boat, quickly picking up the technique and developing a very efficient, fast but relaxed style."

Mr Glaisher won the infamous 125 mile Devizes to Westminster canoe race with his paddling partner Francis Huntingford as a junior pair in 2016 and continued to race with Exeter Canoe Club and the GB Ocean Racing team, before attending Nottingham University to study Biology.

While studying, he competed in a number of International Canoe Ocean Races.

However, after winning the Oban Sea Kayak race in Scotland at the age of 19, Mr Glaisher did not recover properly and experienced blurred vision.

He later saw a doctor and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, a diagnosis he said "changed his life".

"When I was diagnosed, I definitely didn't imagine I'd be doing something like this a few years later. I didn't know it was possible," he said.

Looking for a change from elite racing, Mr Glaisher then decided to paddle around Europe with no fixed destination or plan.

"It wasn't about speed or time, it was about the adventure," he said.

However, returning home in December 2022 after paddling 5,500km (3,417 miles) in 137 days, Mr Glashier said it was then he decided to take on the gruelling kayak challenge around mainland Britain.

He started his trip from Aldeburgh, in Suffolk on 2 June, with Mr Taylor-Ross and his wife, Annabel, closely tracked both his location and live blood sugar readings.

Mr Taylor-Ross said: "He will never let the diabetes take control of him. He's changed the boundaries, forever."

Looking to the future, Mr Glaisher said: "For now, it's just about resting but there will definitely be more adventures to come."

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