Limerick pensioner hopes to get Guinness World Record for walking Earth more than twice

A LIMERICK pensioner who is trying to beat the Guinness World Record (GWR) for walking around the earth more than two times has said he hopes he will be recognised for his “amazing human walk record”.

75-year-old Vinod Bajaj was born in India but has been living in Limerick for 40 years, currently in Castletroy. He has completed the extraordinary feat of walking around the world, which has a circumference of 40,075 km, more than 2.5 times - without leaving the county.

Vinod says he has gone through 24 pairs of runners and also notes that he has beaten Forrest Gump, who walked/ran a total of 24,539km in 1140 days, because, as of April 27, 2025, Vinod walked 100,010km, or about 128 million steps, for 3,100+ days continuously.

“There is a possibility to visit the GWR office in London and present my amazing and incredible feat for consideration for inclusion,” Vinod said.

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“I started walking on August 18, 2016 and completed my first walk around Earth on September 26, 2020 in 1496 days. I completed my second walk on October 10, 2023. The average per day was 36km.  It took 382 less days than the first walk and I beat my own record!

“I hope they will recognise my amazing ‘human walk record’. I didn’t find anyone in GWR database who has remotely come near my extraordinary feat.”

Vinod worked for several multi-national companies for 25 years in a variety of senior roles and was a business consultant for 10 years prior to retiring at age 60. He wrote a book in 2021, Pension without Tension, which he says was born when outside walking.

“I decided to walk to stay healthy, and lost 3.5 stones in the first 9 months. I did not have to make any adjustments to eating habits as I was shedding 1400 calories per day.

“I start early everyday to finish by late afternoon and walk year-round in all kinds of weather. During some heavy snowing days, I walked inside of shopping mall for a short duration.”

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While Vinod says he follows “no specific route”, he says he always walks “within a 10km range from my house in Castletroy” and started doing so in 2016.

Vinod is in the process of applying for a GWR and for now, he says he wants to just “slow down and write my second book”.  For anybody thinking of becoming a “serious walker” like Vinod, his advice would be: “Make sure you walk continuously for at least 30 mins at a time to be effective. 

“Discipline and self-motivation are very important, set a daily goal and improve it over a period of time gradually and invest in a good pair of runners and socks.”