FOR most people, just the thought of tackling the New York Marathon would be daunting enough, but well-known local waiter Claudio Guerrerio recently pounded all 26 miles around the Big Apple bouncing a golf ball on a club!

Dubbed 'The Master of the Golf Ball', Claudio, who works at the Giltar Hotel, Tenby, is well known locally for his unique golfing tricks, which he has been developing ever since he was a boy of 10 caddying in his native Portugal.

He had originally intended to take part in this year's London Marathon, but missed the entry date, so he decided to take part in the New York Marathon on November 3 instead.

Claudio completed the course in around eight-and-a-half hours despite a few scares.

"I was disappointed when I was told I was at the halfway mark, because I thought I'd covered 20 miles!" smiled Claudio. "But I managed to keep going - even when a dog tried to steal the ball off me in The Bronx!

"It took me an hour to get around Central Park and I had to complete the last two hours using a yellow ball because it was too dark to see the white one.

"Although I had been out training with Pat Currie, I was really feeling it at the end of the marathon," he continued. "Especially as I had to walk three miles back to the hotel. I was so exhausted after all the concentration of keeping the ball bouncing, I couldn't even be bothered to get undressed to go to bed."

However, his efforts were not in vain, as his marathon task has seen him raise in the region of £1,700 for the Rainbow Children's Hospice.

Training up to three hours a day to develop his act - which has been featured several times on television - Claudio is now setting his sights on next year's London Marathon.

He is also in training for two assaults on world records.

"I would like to break the records for bouncing a golf ball with one hand, and with both hands," he said.

"The record for one hand is about one hour, and I've got up to one hour 20 minutes in training, so the next step is to get my time officially recognised by the Guinness Book of Records."

However, Claudio's greatest ambition is to take on the legendary Tiger Woods.

"Not on the golf course," Claudio added. "He does a few tricks and I would like to take him on in a golf skill contest for charity."