Alex Flynn celebrates his double vertical marathon achievement

An adventurer and athlete who has Parkinson’s disease has completed a lockdown challenge ascending a vertical marathon distance at his home.

Alex Flynn climbed and descended his staircase 3,516 times, taking 7½ days to complete the task.

The double vertical marathon, which saw Flynn in action for an average of 12 hours a day, involved 138,338ft vertically, half of which was ascent.

The adventurer, from Wantage in Oxfordshire, completed the challenge on Friday afternoon, despite suffering the effects of Parkinson’s disease on his body along with tendonitis in his ankles and Achilles’ pain. He experienced tremors and uncontrollable cramping caused by dystonia, a condition of Parkinson’s disease which causes pain and involuntary muscle contractions in his right leg.

At the time of writing, Paul Flynn’s efforts had raised more than £3,000 for Parkinson’s UK. The recent challenge was part of his ongoing 10millionmetres campaign.

Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who became the oldest person to reach the summit of Everest in 2009, praised Flynn for completing the task. He said: “Alex should be congratulated for completing this Herculean charity challenge, and I would urge the public to donate whatever it can to show their support.”

Adventurer Ben Fogle, who summited Everest in 2018 and also championed Flynn during his climb, added: “Congratulations to Alex for completing what would have been a pretty gruelling challenge for anyone.

“Charities are more important than ever in these times, so if you are able, please support Alex for Parkinson’s UK.”

Donations can be made via Alex Flynn’s JustGiving page.