The PDC Home Tour continues on Thursday with Chris Dobey and Ron Meulenkamp in action in Group 14 - watch live coverage on the Sky Sports App from 7.30pm
Thursday 30 April 2020 17:40, UK
Steve Beaton is on course to compete in an unprecedented 30th consecutive World Darts Championship later this year, breaking Phil Taylor's record of appearing at 29.
Impressive longevity indeed. But what's the secret to such durability?
"I've been very fortunate. I'm not saying that I don't get aches and pains. You've just got to get on with it. That's part of life," he explained, speaking to Sky Sports News.
"I've never done a lot with my throw. I've never changed it much. I try to make it as simple as I can when I'm throwing. And I think that the simpler you can keep the game, the easier it's going to be. I've just been fortunate and being able to play for so long."
The 1996 world champ has seen the sport change throughout his career that has spanned across five decades. But what has been the biggest development?
"I know boards have changed, and darts have changed a bit - the wires and things. But averages these days... If you're not averaging 100, you're not going to be in a game," he said.
"You've got to be hitting that average all the time. It's not just a matter of one leg, or one match being like that. You've got to consistently be like that now. And I think that's sometimes it's just a double that you miss that costs you a match. It's one shot. That's how the standard is at the moment."
The Bronzed Adonis is a nickname synonymous with professional darts, but how did Beaton first assume the moniker?
"It goes back years. Tony Green [came up with it]. I'd just come back off holidays, when I was playing in the [World Championship]," he explained.
"I obviously got a bit of a tan on me, and that's when it started off with the Bronzed Adonis thing. And it's stuck ever since. It was either 1992 or 1993. A good few years ago!"
Beaton was the subject of quite the story recounted on the latest episode of The Darts Show.
Peter Manley and Alan Warriner-Little joined the podcast regulars to shoot the breeze, reminiscing about their careers.
"We used to go to the holiday camps a lot [for tournaments]," Warriner-Little recalled. "Me, Rod [Harrington] and Lloydy (Colin Lloyd) used to share a room. And we used to have this thing between us - whoever was the first one to get beat, we had to go back to the room and get the grub sorted out. Unfortunately on this occasion it was my turn. I got beat early. I went head in hands, back to the chalet.
"I got all the grub ready, Lloydy walks in the door about half an hour later.
"I started putting it out on the table, wooden spoon in my hand. And Rod walks in the door with the biggest kebab you've ever seen in your life.
"So I gave him a showdown right on the steps. I'd been slaving over this food all afternoon!
"And he just stood there looking at me, with his kebab. I grabbed his kebab, took it out of his hand and threw it past his head, missed his head, it flew over the side and landed right on top of Steve Beaton's wind-screen and bonnet.
"And I walked back into the house in a huff. And we all started laughing, not realising that night that it was cold. It froze!
"The next morning, we woke up and Steve Beaton was scraping his kebab off his windscreen, it was frozen!
"He said 'look what somebody's done!' I went, 'I know, the people around here, they're terrible!'"
Catch up with every previous episode including specials with Phil Taylor and Stephen Fry, the latest from chief executive Matt Porter and the players, including Peter Wright on keeping busy in the lockdown - download The Darts Show podcast
