Partially sighted Lancashire dad aims to beat padel world record for second time

A partially sighted Lancashire dad hopes to beat a padel world record for the second time later this month.

Lytham St Annes local Nathan Young and three friends will take to the court at Performance Padel Preston from Thursday, November 26 to Saturday, November 28 to attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous padel match.

Nathan, alongside Marcus Mollinga, the Preston- born co-founder of nutrition brand Zooki; Charlotte Bresweth, a firefighter from Liverpool; and Toni Calafell, a padel coach from Mallorca, will play continuously for at least 50 hours.

Marcus and Nathan first set a record of 40 hours in November 2025, raising around £35,000 for the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT) but this was unofficially beaten by a team in South Africa who played for 48.

Hoping to reclaim their title, the latest challenge will once again raise money for CHECT, which supports families affected by retinoblastoma, a rare form of childhood eye cancer.

It is a cause close to Nathan’s heart as he fought the condition as a child whilst his six-year-old daughter, Izzy, was also diagnosed when she was just one month old.

After two and a half years of chemotherapy, Izzy's prognosis is good, although she has impaired vision in one eye.

Nathan, who is totally blind in his left eye and visually impaired in his right, told the Post: “I can’t put into words the difference CHECT has made to our family. They’ve helped us navigate every aspect of what is without doubt the toughest time in life.”

“To have your child diagnosed with cancer is every parent’s nightmare, but Izzy showed amazing strength and resilience throughout her treatment.

“The last few years have turned into a personal mission for me, to raise as much money and awareness as I possibly can for CHECT and all the vital work they do. In the last year, I have broken a Guinness World Record, ran my first marathon, and now we’re back again. The four of us met through padel and it’s an amazing chance to do something special, doing something we all love.

“David and Benny, who we broke the previous record with, have decided to pass the torch on to two newcomers, and we’re really proud to have Charlotte and Toni join the team. Both are great friends who have taken the cause to heart, and with that I I consider myself very, very lucky.”

On joining the challenge, Charlotte said: “Nay approached me around the time of our coaching course and asked if I’d be interested in taking part. At first I thought ‘Absolutely not, they’re crazy for even attempting the record!’ But the more I thought about it, the more I realised how much I love a challenge and thought ‘Why not?’ I’m proud to be the only woman on the team and to represent the ladies. It’s going to be tough mentally and physically, but I’m very excited to say I’m attempting this world record.”

Toni added: “As a padel coach, I spend so much of my time on court, but this challenge has a much bigger purpose. I’m proud to be part of a team taking on 50 hours of padel to support the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust and the children and families they help. Every hour, every point and every bit of energy we have will be for that cause. One team, one challenge, one cause.”

Marcus, who is returning for a second time, told the Post he was looking forward to taking on the challenge again with the new-look team.

The Prestonian said: ‘After 40 hours on court last year, I’m going for 50 this time: a padel world record attempt with Charlotte, Nay and Toni, raising money for CHECT, the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust. I’ve been training twice a day and I’m working to drop another 7kg before we start. I’m nervous but bloody excited!’

Alongside the endurance challenge, Performance Padel Preston will host a second Guinness World Record attempt for the longest winner-stays-on padel tournament.

Open to members of the public, the tournament will give players of all abilities the chance to take part in a potential world-record achievement while supporting CHECT.

Priyanka Kotecha, Fundraising Manager at the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust, said: “We’re so grateful to Nathan, Marcus, Charlotte and Toni for taking on such an extraordinary challenge.

“Nathan and his family know first-hand how life-changing a retinoblastoma diagnosis can be, and every pound raised will help us support more families with advice, information and emotional support through diagnosis, treatment and beyond.

“We’ll be cheering them on every hour of the way.”

The record attempts will all take place at Performance Padel Preston, which is owned by two friends of Nathan, Robin Laws and Roy Clarke.

The pair are no strangers to hosting charitable ventures- in August, another Lytham St Annes dad, Mark Kingsley, raised £22k for Prostate Cancer UK at a padel fun day held at the Caxton Road venue.

Expressing his gratitude to the pair, Nathan said: ‘I met Robin and Roy a few years back playing Padel locally. As often the story goes we met at some mix-in socials, very quickly we’d be arranging games privately and padel trips abroad. Having built Performance Padel Preston, they now approach their first anniversary. It’s a club built with absolutely no compromise- and from day one they’ve put community first, you could visit at any time and see that’s very apparent. It’s a real honour to have their support, and their generosity now gives us the chance to make anybody that’d like to get involved a Guinness World Record holder- which is pretty cool too!’

The challenge will begin at lunchtime on Thursday, November 26 and is expected to finish around 6pm on Saturday, November 28.

The players are permitted a five-minute break every hour played, and a Guinness World Records official adjudicator will be present to verify the attempt.

Following the marathon match, a post-challenge celebration will be held at Performance Padel from 6pm with a fully licensed bar, music and food.

To donate, visit: https://givestar.io/gs/the-worlds-longest-padel-match

You can also follow the challenge on Instagram: @worldslongestpadelmatch