Watch: Diver Mark taking plunge again for five-day underwater record bid
Grandfather Mark Colman is a man who plans to make waves with a world record attempt. The 49-year-old is in training in a bid to spend five full days under water – without even coming up for food or drink.
The former Royal Engineer has previously attempted to break the record, but it wasn't recorded properly.
So now he's giving it one more go – before he turns 50. He said: "I think this is my last chance to do it as when I get to 50 I will probably be too old.
"I won't be able to sleep while I am down there and food and drink will be passed down through a specially-made straw." He added: "People think I am crazy, but I don't care."
Mr Colman will attempt to break the record in June.
He will be raising money for the Veterans In Communities, Pilgrim Bandits, Inspired Youth in Canada and Soldiers off the Streets charities.
It won't be the first time Mr Colman, an ex-Royal Engineer and commercial diver, has done something similar, however – he has already unofficially broken the record of four days and four hours in 2012, but it wasn't recorded well enough to be accepted by the Guinness World Records, he said, hence his second attempt.
He will be undertaking the challenge in his original home county of Essex, at the Underwater Studio in Basildon, on June 18, 2017, he has announced – and between now and then hopes to raise as much money as possible in sponsorship for veterans charities of the kind that helped him after he left the forces, among others.
Mr Colman, a father of four and grandfather of three from Tenbury Wells, said: "I am 50 next year so feel this is my last chance to get the record.
"I want to stay under water for five days. Guinness allows a five-minute break every so often with an endurance challenge, but I want to stay in the water the whole time.
"I won't be able to sleep while I am in the water and I will have my food specially created and I will eat it by using a straw.
"The last time I did it, when I came out of the water I had had no sleep for four days, I was hallucinating, falling over and my hands were absolute agony.
"When I said I was going to do this the first time people said I was crazy, now I am even crazier."
Mr Colman served for 10 years in 23 Engineer Regiment at Osnabruck in Germany, and on leaving the Army fell on hard times when he found himself bringing up one of his daughters alone and suffering two personal tragedies.
He said he was struggling until charity Veterans In Action helped him cope.
To donate or follow Mark's progress visit facebook page World Record Dive Challenge 2017.
