EIGHT thousand burpees in 12 hours caused Jeremy Redford nothing more than a headache, as he squatted, pushed and jumped his way to a an official world record.

The 41-year-old, of High Street in Watchfield, made the village fete the scene of his triumph on Saturday.

With no official record in place, the Guinness Book of World Records set Jeremy a target of 5,000 inside 12 hours, which he had completed with ease 10 weeks ago.

As time went on and he passed the 5,000 mark shortly after nine-and-a-half hours, he went through a sticky patch, but suffered a headache alone, before recovering to finish with 8,089 reps to set the record.

“I had a headache going on, but it seemed to fade eventually,” he said. “I was well-trained for it after six months of nothing but burpees.

“I have been doing burpee training for a couple of hours most days. I was taking it fairly seriously.

“I have done quite a lot of endurance sports in the past – cycling mainly. I wanted to set myself this challenge, but provide a bit of entertainment for the locals at the fete too.

“I had prepared quite well, so I knew I was capable of going on. By the time 4pm came around it had been quite a long day and that’s when the headache began.

“I wouldn’t have done this if I didn’t think I could have done it.”

Burpees are described as the ultimate full body workout, including a squat thrust, push up and vertical jump.

Through training, Jeremy had paced himself to 1,000 every 90 minutes, which saw him through the record with no problems.

He started the attempt at 8.30am on Saturday morning and was done by 8.30pm that evening.

“All my family had come down to support me, which made a huge difference,” he said. “They provided cakes and refreshments for the invigilators I had there and then cracked open the champagne once I had finished.”

As a part of his efforts, Jeremy raised £1,900 for Young Epilepsy, which supports teenagers and young people living with the condition.

He took that decision after hearing his nephew had recently been diagnosed with it. To make your own donation towards Jeremy’s cause, visit: www.justgiving.com/Jeremy-Redford For his next challenge, Jeremy is weighing up an attempt to complete one of the lung-bursting mountains from the Tour de France.

He may need to get over his headache first.