Dusk to dawn golf challenge

We don’t envy any of the 3,500+ teams who completed the Longest Day Golf Challenge on the hottest day of the year in June. The very thought of playing 72 holes in one day is enough to get us hot under the collar, and that’s without playing another 23 holes on top of that.

So, kudos to Steve Preston, who managed to complete the extraordinary feat at Belton Park Golf Club in Grantham, Lincolnshire. The 53-year-old prison officer, who plays off 16, teed off at 4.37am and finished at 9.32pm – nearly 17 hours later. In doing so, he took 456 shots and raised nearly £4,000 for two cancer charities – Macmillan Nurses and Maggie’s Respite Homes.

Preston, whose partner Victoria was diagnosed with cancer in December 2015, told TG: “It was a fantastic day but I was certainly feeling it three days later. I walked all five rounds, plus the extra five holes, so I had a few blisters afterwards.

“Would I do it again? I probably would. The annoying thing for me is that I didn’t complete 100 holes, so that would definitely be my target next time.”