Yorkshire pig farmer and Parkinson’s campaigner Richard Longthorp performed 10,000 press-ups in a 24-hour period to end a month-long challenge that saw him joined by people from across the country in raising funds and awareness for the disease.
Collectively, those who participated in the Pressups4Parkinsons challenge achieved an estimated 774,000 press-ups in total across January. While this was short of the 1 million-target, Richard was delighted with how the challenge went and what it achieved, not least raising more than £18,000 for boxing clubs that support Parkinson’s sufferers.
“The one million press-ups were a figure to capture people’s imaginations. Far more important to me was the response we got from the people who were able to do it,” he said, according to England Boxing.
“There was one boy, aged six or seven, who was incredible. His mum said he can struggle to concentrate on things but with this challenge, he has been totally focused. He’s also raised £300 in sponsorship. It has been heartwarming to see so many people with smiles on their faces.
“If I had the option of one million press-ups but nobody enjoying it, or 750,000 and people enjoying it, continuing to do it and happy with their personal achievements, I’d take the latter all day long.”
24-hours of press-ups
The total included 10,000 press-ups by Richard himself across 24 hours at St Pauls Boxing Academy, in Hull, at the end of the month-long challenge. “It went terribly! The first 5-6,000 were, not a breeze, but not a problem either. The last two thousand were so difficult, though. I chose to do sets of 20 on the minute, every minute. As the period went on this dropped to 15 and then to 10,” Richard said.
He didn’t sleep during the 24-hour challenge, but declared it all worthwhile, as he achieved the 10,000 target, which for someone living with Parkinson’s in his 70s is quite extraordinary and testament to his bravery, commitment and dedication to the cause.
“If anyone else is thinking of doing 10,000 press-ups in 24 hours my piece of advice would be don’t! I’m very appreciative, though. A lot of people came along. Thank you.”
Among those joining him was Hull-born London 2012 Olympic gold medallist, Luke Campbell, while his efforts generated a lot of media coverage.
St Paul’s head coach, Mike Bromby was with Richard throughout, describing his efforts as a ‘phenomenal achievement’, while friends, family and supporters dipped in and out during the small hours of the morning.
Richard plans on donating part of the total raised to Parkinson’s UK to use on the new England Boxing Coaching People with Parkinson’s Course. The other half will go to the clubs which participated in the mammoth challenge to use for their community programmes.
And he is already thinking about future fundraising challenges. “I would like it to become an annual thing but in what form yet I’m unsure. For now, I just want to reinforce my appreciation to everyone involved in this and reiterate the importance of personal achievements,” he said.
Last year, Richard raised £22,000, helping England Boxing develop a coaching course for those coaching People with Parkinson’s, with the delivery of nine courses to over 150 coaches. The funds also helped to run weekly Parkinson’s Boxing sessions at St Paul’s Boxing Academy and Goole Amateur Boxing Club.
“Parkinson’s is a degenerative condition of the brain. It is progressive – it gets worse over time. There is no cure. But… boxing seems to have the amazing ability to help manage the disease and hopefully even delay or slow down the dreaded progression,” the former NPA chair said.
- You can still donate via the challenge’s GoFundMe page.