Stag do is peak of achievement (From The Northern Echo)

Stag do is peak of achievement

8:00am Tuesday 14th February 2012 in Darlington By David Roberts, Chief Reporter (Darlington)

PARTICIPANTS in what has been dubbed “the hardest stag do in the world” have helped raise thousands of pounds for charity.

Last weekend, on one of the coldest weekends of the year, champion Thai boxer Michael Dicks and his friends eschewed the traditional stag party entertainment of pubs and strip clubs and opted instead to take part in a series of endurance activities in the Welsh mountains.

The 19 friends competed against each other in a 31-mile off-road mountain bike race, an eight-mile kayak race, and ended the weekend by carrying 20kg backpacks up two peaks on a 24km hike in the Brecon Beacons – a challenge used as part of a special forces selection process.

Mr Dicks, from Darlington, and his companions raised more than £5,000 for the NSPCC.

Mr Dicks will marry his fiancee, Samantha Beck, in a ceremony in Thailand in May. Before then he will compete in a world title fight at the O2 Arena in March.

Paul Hamilton, Mr Dicks’ trainer and best man, organised the stag do with Discovery Adventure because Mr Dick’s training regime meant traditional stag do antics were not possible.

The party were all members of Mr Hamilton’s Darlington Boxing and Martial Arts Academy.

Mr Hamilton said: “A lot of the lads have various fights coming up so going out drinking wasn’t an option. It was better to do something different.

“To me a stag do isn’t about getting drunk and being stupid. This asked some questions of yourself.

“Mike wanted to put something back into where he came from and so we decided to raise money for the NSPCC.”

It is hoped the money can be used to help fund underprivileged children who want to join boxing gyms in the North-East.

The culmination of Mr Dicks’ stag do was the 24km Fan Dance up Pen-y-fan used by the SAS as part of their training.

Mr Hamilton added: “The SAS have to do it in under four hours to qualify and all 19 of us managed to do it.

“There were some paras who were our guides and they said that we were the fittest party that they’ve had up there.”

There was an element of competition and the party split into two groups for the duration of the weekend, one led by Mr Dicks and the other by Mr Hamilton.

Mr Dicks’ side lost and their forfeit was to sit in an outside bath filled with bags of ice for one minute.