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An Eskimo roll, according to Wikipedia: "is the act of righting a capsized kayak by use of body motion and or a paddle."

Or in the case of 42-year-old Grant Bradshaw, from Liden, a lot of body motion….

Grant, who already has a couple of Swindon and District Canoe Club wins under his spray skirt for the most Eskimo rolls, set his sights on a Guinness World Record a couple of years ago.

With the record standing at 23 Eskimo rolls, in a minute, Grant was confident:

"I've managed to do 24 a couple of times in training and the record is 23 so..."

So, on Thursday 17th July, at the Dorcan Recreation Centre swimming pool in Swindon Grant made his attempt on the record…

But, unfortunately, despite Grant rolling a total of 30 times it wasn't all in one go:

"After the first attempt all I saw was the side, as I came up after the 9th roll, and I thought that's it I'm going to touch the side.

"I hadn't realised that the boat had already gone through a complete 180 degree circle and that it would have carried on going around without touching the side."

From the start Grant had known that he would probably only get one go at it:

"It's that physically exhausting that one crack is all you get.Ìý You just aren't able to recover in time to have another go.Ìý

"And I knew, after the first attempt, you're already starting to get tired, your shoulders are aching and it was end of."

Despite not breaking the record Grant is determined to have another go at it:

"I knew it would either be nerves or adrenaline on the day and unfortunately this time it was nerves but I'll definitely go for it again because I've done it in training and I know it's achievable."