Retired Bermuda champion boxer Fred Thomas has faced many physical challenges in his life, including facing down the middleweight champion of England.

However for the past 20 years he has been legendary in Bermuda not only for his boxing, but for the annual tradition of wheeling his wife Clara around the Island in a wheelbarrow to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

Yesterday, as they reached their landmark 45th anniversary, Bermudians missed the strange sight of the couple out in their barrow.

On the couple's 43rd anniversary Mr. Thomas was unable to perform the ritual due to his failing health - so Clara pushed him.

Last year, Mr. Thomas was in the care of his doctor so they were unable to get out on the road.

But this year, Fred and Clara have finally decided put the wheelbarrow into retirement because Mr. Thomas is too ill.

“We're having our immediate family over for a joyous time tonight,” Mrs. Thomas told The Royal Gazette yesterday. “We're looking forward to it.”

Recalling her decision to push her husband around the streets of Hamilton for their 43rd anniversary, Mrs. Thomas said: “He wanted to do it so badly, so I said, ‘Okay, well there's no way you're going to be pushing me. I'll push you'. It wasn't too painful for me at all. It felt wonderful, actually.”

On their 25th anniversary in 1983, Mr. Thomas began the unique tradition which they have now reluctantly ended.

The couple first met when they were 13 or 14 years old. “I was a good-looking man, as I am now, and she chased me and caught me,” Mr. Thomas claimed.

According to Mrs. Thomas, however, it was the other way around. “He sought me out,” she said. “He just kept seeking me out from then on ‘til finally he came to my house and met my mother.”

Even at such young ages, Mr. Thomas said they knew they had something real. “We sort of had no reason to jump the gun. We just found that our love was fine and we got along fine together.”

The pair married about five years later, in 1958. They have four children: Bethanne, Maquita, Marico, and Belcario, as well as six grandchildren. “We're very proud of all of them,” said Mrs. Thomas. “All the boys are over six feet,” Mr. Thomas added proudly.

The wheelbarrow idea, naturally, was Mr. Thomas's. “I heard about a man who travelled from Warwick with his wife in an onion wheelbarrow,” he explained. “She was sick and he pushed her to the hospital. I said, ‘Now isn't that romantic.'”

So he told his wife when they reached their 25th anniversary he would push her around in a wheelbarrow. “Yeah right,” his wife said.

“As the year came I refreshed her memory,” explained Mr. Thomas. As he had retired from boxing at age 30, he had to start getting back into shape. “I was up at 5.30 walking with another barrow filled with blocks, pushing it up hills.”

That first journey was perhaps the shortest of the next 20 years, a mere five miles in total - a round-trip from their house to the Bethel A.M.E. Church at Shelley Bay.

Their annual odyssey rapidly became an institution in Bermuda. One year the couple travelled from Somerset Police Station to Albuoy's Point in Hamilton where they were greeted by Ted Ming and the Bermuda Strollers. They even included a stop at the hospital, where their daughter Maquita was. “You'd think the hospital was on fire with the amount of people that came down,” said Mr. Thomas.

Then, despite the August heat and Mr. Thomas's claim that he used to lose four or five pounds every journey, he insisted on continuing on to Flatt's Village Four Star Pizza. Their son, Marico, manages the Four Star/Village Grill chain. When the couple arrived, to their delight a table complete with sparkling grape juice and pizza had been set up for them. They also played Pony Express one year. Starting in St. George's, they carried a letter from the Mayor of St. George's to the Mayor of Hamilton, signing the guest book at City Hall along the way. “We thought that was nice,” said Mrs. Thomas. They once even visited former Premier Sir John Swan in the Premier's office.

Often changing their route throughout the years, and becoming masters at avoiding hills in Bermuda, the couple estimate they have travelled around 93 miles by barrow. The original barrow itself also evolved, from a plain barrow with an umbrella to an extraordinarily comfortable creation complete with shade, cushions, extra wheels and brakes, and storage space for cool drinks and a stereo. “It now has everything but motor and steering wheel,” said Mrs. Thomas. “I was your motor and steering wheel,” her husband laughed.

Like their ventures in the wheelbarrow, the couple say married life is full of ups and downs. Long ago, they said, they promised each other not to fight or have “miscommunications”. They have a 24-hour rule: have it resolved in 24 hours, or bring it to a head by 48. “We were never looking for a winner but to be forgiven and carry on with our lives,” said Mr. Thomas.

“We do not go to bed angry,” said Mrs. Thomas. “We agree to disagree, but we don't go to bed angry because we never know what's going to face us in the morning. We still say good night to each other.”

“And a kiss in between,” added Mr. Thomas.

“This is for a reason,” finished Mrs. Thomas. “God knew what he was doing when he put the two of us together.”